And That Makes Blackjack
by Shenaniganon
Summary: Lulu's birthday is here, but a group of new arrivals is going to make life a bit more hectic than expected for the Loud family. A Loud Verse fic, and direct continuation of my earlier fics "Busted", "The Diary of Lemy Loud", "Freak Club" and "Behind the (Yellow) Line, Through a (Shifting) Door".
1. Chapter 1

"…mornin', Mom…"

Lisa Loud was mid-sip in her coffee when she heard the voice coming from the back of her lab. She slowly tilted her head back to see the alternate version of her daughter Lulu slowly make her way out from her makeshift bedroom in the back of the lab. "Good morning, Z-29. How are you feeling?"

"Mmm…still tired. And my jaw is still a little numb." Z-29 Lulu rubbed her chin, which was covered in her omnipresent face mask. "But good enough that I don't feel like I literally need to spend a third straight day in bed."

"Good to hear." Lisa lightly pulled out the chair next to her, motioning to Lulu. As prompted, the young woman sat down beside her as Lisa asked, "So, aside from the numbness, how's the new face working out?"

"S'okay. Looks fine, in any case." Lulu pulled down her mask to show her mother, revealing the normal-looking mouth one would expect to see on a human being, as opposed to an unspeakable horror show. "Getting used to, like, chewing with it at dinner last night was weird, though."

"I'd expect so. You'll probably need a bit of physical therapy before it starts feeling natural." Lisa took another sip before continuing, "Any undesired reversions?"

"No, all good there." Lulu shook her head as she re-covered her mouth and nose with the face mask. "Haven't tested out intentionally reverting it yet, but…"

"We can try that later as part of your therapy." Lisa placed her mug down on the desk before lightly tapping at the console in front of her. "Just make sure you let me know of any sudden pains or rashes. I don't THINK you're allergic to any rare-earth elements, but we're going to be cautious during these next few weeks."

"Noted." Lulu nodded groggily. "Just don't go all data-crazy on me and start treating this like an experiment, okay?"

"Any procedure involving your skeletal and DNA construction is by definition an experiment, Z-29." Lisa replied. "But I'll do my best to hold back my enthusiasm."

"Mmhmm." Lulu sounded skeptical but decided to let it slide for now. Glancing over to the clock on the wall near the desk, she could see that it was 6:12 in the morning. "Little me still asleep?"

Lisa was in the middle of another gulp of coffee as she picked up the baby monitor from the desk and passed it to Lulu, where she could see the peacefully sleeping frame of this universe's Lulu Loud lying back, her chest softly rising and lowering with her breathing. After she finished her sip, Lisa said, "She woke up at around 3 this morning and required a diaper change, but she's been resting ever since then."

"Have you been awake ever since then?" Z-29 Lulu asked. "You seem, like, super tired this morning."

"Hah, I wish. I was actually still awake long before Lulu got up." Lisa had a wry smile on her face. "Yesterday was…challenging."

"What, an experiment keep you up, or something?" Z-29 tilted her head. "Too much data, too little time?"

"No, it was nothing regarding an experiment. Or anything in the lab at all." Lisa leaned back in her chair. "It was the most common source of instability in this household: family matters."

"Ah, gotcha." Lulu nodded. "What'd Lupa do now? Or was it Lemy's fault this time?"

"It wasn't anyone's fault at all, just…" Lisa sighed, then tapped a few buttons on the console. On the monitor overhead, several video feeds popped up and began rewinding through the day's events.

In the first one, Lyle, Lupa, and Marla appeared on the screen, standing on a sidewalk downtown. With them were an unfamiliar pair: a boy and a girl, elementary school age, and similar enough in appearance…black hair, freckles, light brown skin…that it was almost certain that they were siblings, more than likely twins.

The boy was standing behind his sister, practically hiding behind her, and looking quite nervous as he watched the older kids. The girl had a much more confident look on her face, adjusting her glasses as she looked up at Lyle and asked, "We're looking for a man named Lincoln Loud. Know where we can find him?"

Lisa tapped the console again, pausing that video feed and starting the next. Leia was seen in this one, hanging around at a picnic table and flanked by her friends. Or the top executives of her possibly criminal enterprise, or whatever. They too were joined by an unfamiliar kid, with long blonde hair capped off by a bandana, who gave off a vibe of…hard to say if it was permanent relaxation, or laziness, or what, really. This new girl leaned on her arm as she looked over at Leia and asked, "You guys heard of a dude called Lincoln Loud? Can you point me his way?"

Another tap on the console by Lisa, and the third and final video feed popped up. This one was more active, as Lemy was running away from someone, only to be caught by the scruff of his neck and lifted up off the ground. His pursuer appeared on the screen, a redheaded girl who towered over Lemy, wearing unseasonably warm clothing, a furry hat on her head, and a mildly pissed-off expression on her face. With her captive kicking at her in the vain hopes of getting loose, the girl shoved him up against the wall and growl. "No more games now. Tell me, where is the man known as Lincoln Loud?"

The video stopped there, as Lisa leaned back in her chair again, finishing her cup of coffee. Lulu leaned back as well, taking in the three videos before turning to Lisa and asking, "So it's Dad's fault, then."

"In a way, I suppose. Though I…" Lisa yawned as she placed her cup down on the desk. "Mmm…I don't know if he's 'at fault' as much as he is 'responsible for' the situation."

"Right, right." Z-29 nodded. Lisa let out another long yawn, prompting her alternate daughter to continue, "Why don't you get some rest? I can look after whatever you're working on."

"That's…" Lisa tried to reply, but another yawn cut her off before she had the chance to complete the sentence. Instead of arguing any further, she slowly nodded, rising out of her chair as she said, "…I suppose I should take the opportunity while it's here. I'm waiting for an experiment to finish…look, you can find it here. Just keep an eye on it in case anything goes wrong, then input the data…here."

"Got it." Lulu nodded as she switched to Lisa's seat, following along with her instructions. "I can take it from here. Go get some sleep, Mom."

"I'll do that." She continued to watch Lulu as she began tapping at the console and reviewing the data for a moment, but eventually Lisa started shuffling towards the stairs leading out of the lab. "Good night, then."

"Night." Z-29 watched Lisa go, until the large laboratory doors closed behind her. The young woman turned to the screen, watching the data tick in for a few moments, though she quickly bored of it. Everything looked green, seemed to be moving smoothly, didn't involve any high explosives or corrosive elements that could lead to some Science-y fun…just lame all around.

After a few minutes of letting the boredom sink in, Lulu's gaze turned towards the other objects on the screen: the video feeds she and Lisa had been watching earlier, with the kids asking this universe's versions of her siblings about their Dad's whereabouts. These new kids…Lulu had ideas on who they might be, but it was always hard to tell for sure, what with the age-based differences between her universe and this one.

"I mean…" Lulu glanced back at the doors to the lab before returning her gaze to the monitor. "I'm sure Mom won't mind me killing some time while I wait for this to finish, right?"

Since she was essentially confined to the lab since arriving in this universe, what with the planning for and execution of her surgery, there wasn't much for Lulu to do besides try and catch the latest happenings of her alter-siblings and aunts from Mom. That had literally been her main source of entertainment for the last few weeks, and she'd been deprived of even that over the last couple days due to her recovery knocking her out.

She was sure it'd be fine. She could minimize the data, like so…okay, like, maybe it was a liiiitle hard to see like that, but not too bad. It was still there in the corner, and she could still pay attention to what was going on. In the main part of the screen, though, she widened one of the video feeds, rewound it to a bit earlier in the day, and started reliving the day's events.

Which we shall do, as well. Let's turn back the clock to the start of this day and see how things unfolded, shall we?

...

"Good morning." Lyra Loud turned into the kitchen, looking alert and ready in spite of the early hour, as the clock on the wall indicated 6:05 in cold, uncaring numbers.

"Morning, Lyra!" Already in the kitchen was her older sister Liena, who was puttering around between the oven and the island, as she tended to do, even if she was starting her routine a bit earlier than usual. "Coffee's ready, and the banana bread should be cool enough to eat. I've also got blueberry and corn muffins in the oven now, if you don't mind waiting a few."

"It's alright, I'll take the banana bread." Lyra smiled and took a slice of the bread from the plate. She took a quick bite before continuing, "You got off to an early start today, huh?"

"Well, it's a big day, so there's a lot to do!" Liena turned on the light in the oven to check on the muffins. "I have to start prepping dinner, get the cake started, and write down instructions for Dad and Aunt Lucy, so I had to make sure breakfast was done already so I had enough time."

"You could have asked me to come down to help, you know." Lyra gazed over at the numerous plates on the island that Liena had already finished. "I never mind helping you out."

"Oh, it's ok! This is fun for me, it's like a little challenge!" Liena smiled as she returned to the island and wrote down some instructions on a sticky note, then stuck it to a nearby plate that had been wrapped up for later.

"Ha…well, if you're happy, then I guess that's ok. But please, let me help you out next time." Lyra took another bite out her bread and walked over to the cabinet to get her coffee mug out. It was quiet for a moment as Liena kept herself busy and Lyra poured the coffee, but Lyra could hear something quiet, a bit muffled but still noticeable amidst the silence of the house at dawn. "Liena, do you hear…music? It kind of sounds like a guitar…"

"Oh, I think that's your mom and Lina." Liena replied. "They went outside earlier with their guitars when I was getting started with the muffins."

"Really?" Lyra gave Liena a skeptical look. "It's weird for those two to be awake this early, especially considering how late Mom and Sam got in last night."

"Yeaaah…it is weird, isn't it?" As if she had just noticed how odd it was for that pair to be awake at this hour, Liena had a quizzical look on her face as she thought about it. "Hmmm…maaaaybe…."

Lyra smiled wryly as she watched Liena try to put pieces into place in her mind. She half-thought of stopping her, but figured that since it was just her around, it wouldn't cause too much trouble.

"I bet…" Liena had apparently come up with a solution to…whatever problem she had invented. "…that your mom and Lina are scheming against Lemy! She's going to announce Lina as her true musical heir and help Lina become the new leader of their band! Lina's mom must have swayed her to turn against her own son! That MUST be what's going on!"

"…really now." Lyra managed to stay composed and hold off the desire to laugh at how off-base Liena was, as usual. "That's what's going on, huh?"

"I'm sure of it." Liena looked quite proud of herself. "Oh, I'm sure they must think they're sly, but I've caught onto their plans! But poor Lemy…he's going to be so heartbroken when he finds out his own mom and sister are planning against him. Look at them…sitting there with their guitars, smiles on their faces while they hatch their devious plans…"

"Oooor…" Lyra cut off Liena's train of thought. "Maybe they're just having an early morning jam session?"

Liena stopped and looked over to Lyra before simply asking, "What?"

"You know, jam sessions?" Lyra started to explain. "Two people just play instruments, and try and make some fun music by playing together, and it also helps them practice and work on new ideas…that kind of stuff?"

Liena was quiet, looking at Lyra with a bit of a blank expression. Then she looked out the kitchen window, where she and Lyra could see Luna and Lina with their guitars, as the light music continued to dance in the air. Liena watched them for a bit, bringing her hand to her chin as she wore a thoughtful look, or attempted to anyway, before muttering, "Well, like, maybe, I guess…but the scheming made so much sense…"

"Sure it does. What was I thinking?" Lyra played along, finished her slice of banana bread as she picked up her coffee. "Well, I guess it falls to me to stick up for Lemy, then. Don't worry, Liena, I'll go talk to them, and I'll make sure any schemes they've come up with are put to bed right now."

"Oh…okay!" The cheerful smile returned to Liena's face. "Thanks, Lyra! Go save Lemy!"

"Yep, that's my job. I'm on it." Lyra chuckled to herself as she walked out the kitchen door, heading for the jamming/evil scheming duo.

The music got louder as soon as Lyra stepped out the door, escaping the house's considerable soundproofing. It was still quite a few decibels lower than normal for her mom when she starts playing, likely thanks to Aunt Lori's stern words after the last time the neighborhood was awoken all at once at 5:30 in the morning. Or possibly not to overpower Lina's more relaxed playing style. One of the two.

As Lyra walked towards them, the music finished, and Luna turned to Lina and said, "Dude, awesome jam you had going there! You had this great vibe going the whole time…really picking up after your mom!"

"Well, thank you for the early morning lesson, Aunt Luna." Lina smiled back at Luna, before noticing Lyra walking towards the two of them. She waved at the newcomer and said, "Hey, morning Boss. How's it going?"

"Not bad, Lina." Lyra put hands in her pockets as she joined her mother and half-sister. "Surprised to see the two of you up so early."

"Eh, couldn't really sleep last night. Turns out a sleeping bag on Lupa's floor is less comfy than I thought it'd be." Lina strummed a couple notes as she explained. "So I eventually just gave up and figured I'd get some extra morning practice in. Aunt Luna comes downstairs and sees me practicing, goes and grabs her guitar, and boom, I'm in an awesome jam sesh with my cool rock star aunt."

"Hey, any time I'm here, dude." Luna patted Lina on the head. "I'm always down to guide you kids in the ways of rock and roll."

"Ah, so it was just a jam session, then?" A smirk curled across Lyra's face. "That's a relief, because there were some worries that this impromptu meet-up was actually a scheme to steal Lemy's band from him and…something about an heir, I think. Kinda forgot the rest."

Luna and Lina gave Lyra a confused look, before Luna sighed and asked, "Lemme guess, that's one of Liena's crazy ideas?"

"You guessed it." Lyra gave a pained chuckle. "I figured I'd deal with it quick before Lupa or Leia gets up and runs with yet another one of her crazy off-base ideas."

"You say that, but I keep telling you guys, one of these days one of those crazy ideas of hers is gonna be dead on." Lina pointed at her older sister. "And we're all gonna think she's being nuts as always, and then we'll all be fuuuuucked."

"Language, missy." Lyra reprimanded Lina. "And, if you're all done here, you should probably go get ready. The bus'll be here before you know it."

"Right, right." Lina picked herself up and grabbed her guitar. "Thanks again, Aunt Luna."

"No problemo, dude." Luna strummed a few notes on her guitar. "Any time you wanna practice again, just call on me, okay?"

Lina nodded, and started heading back to the house with a wave. Lyra watched her go for a bit, then turned to her mother and asked, "So, what about you, Mom? You got in real late to be up this early…"

"Eh? Well, you know…" Luna scratched her head, her eyes avoiding her daughter's. "I, uh…I was also having some trouble sleeping, and, ah…"

Lyra watched her mother stumble over her words for another moment before sighing and muttering, "Well, seeing as I heard Dad follow you into your room last night, can I assume that Sam is currently with Dad after you…finished with him?"

"…ahhh…" Luna had a somewhat bashful look on her face. "I…guess you could put it that way…?"

There was a bit of a silence here as Luna continued to avoid her daughter's gaze, broken only by the sound of a chuckle behind them and a playful voice saying, "Hehe…you go get you some, Mom."

"Let's not dawdle, Lina!" Lyra called out, not turning her head to watch her half-sister scamper back to the house. "And don't forget to do what I asked you to at school today!"

"Got it covered, Boss!" Lina called back, the kitchen door slamming shut behind her as she dashed inside.

"You got Lina running errands for you today, Lyra?" Luna asked her daughter.

"Sort of. I asked her to make sure the girls at the middle school know we're having a party for Lulu's birthday today," explained Lyra. "I know we told Gloom and Marla about it, but Gloom tends to space out, and Marla…well, in any case, I was hoping Lina could check in and see if she could get her to come."

"I gotcha, sweet child o' mine." Luna nodded as she began to strum a melody. "It sure would be nice to have all you little guys here celebrating."

"Speaking of, I'll probably be home a bit later than usual today." Lyra checked the time on her phone. "I've got tutoring after school, and I need to run a few errands for student council. I should be back before dinner, though."

"Mmmhmm…" Luna glanced up at her daughter, studying her face for a moment before asking, "You doing okay, Lyra?"

"Huh?" Lyra gave her mother a confused look. "Yeah…I'm fine. Why?"

"I dunno, you just seem a little…like there's something eatin' you up inside, y'know?" A concerned look flitted across Luna's face. "Remember, if there's something you need to get off your chest, you know you can talk to me and your dad about it, okay? We'll be here for you when you need us."

"Hehe…don't worry, I know. But really, there's nothing you guys need to worry about. I've just got a bunch of things to take care of today, even without making sure everyone will be coming over tonight. Got a feeling it's gonna be a long day." Lyra turned and started walking back to the house. "Anyway, I've got to get going, or I'll be late for the meeting. See you tonight, Mom."


	2. Chapter 2

Z-29 followed the stream of Lyra walking to school for a few moments, before deciding that, fascinating as it might be to watch all the in-and-outs of Lyra's day, she'd actually rather not do that. It'd take too long, for one, and she'd never get to the point of watching these streams. Besides, with the number of different people and locations involved, she'd probably have to jump around a bit for the full picture of what happened today, so just focusing on Lyra wouldn't make sense.

She tapped the console a few times, returning Lyra's feed to the smaller frame and showing the other feeds, following the rest of the family. She started fast-forwarding through them, scanning each one as the scenes flew by. "English…geography…basic-ass algebra…daw, Lizy's doing finger painting. Little Liz is too adorable. Oh oh…looks like this might be something fun…"

...

"Eeee, I'm so excited! Today's going to be so much fun! Aren't you excited too, Lemy?"

A resigned look was plastered on Lemy's face, contrasting with the sunshine coming forth from the elegantly dressed gothic girl behind him. He didn't even glance back at her before he grumbled, "Oh, overjoyed, Gloom."

Lina, walking beside this two-man comedy duo, rolled her eyes at her brother. The school day was over, and after the bell had rung, she went to follow up on making sure her scatterbrained half-sister hadn't forgotten about Lulu's birthday party at the Loud residence and would actually be showing up on time. Fortunately, it appeared she didn't need to worry about Gloom, as she was quite ecstatic for the Gathering of the Louds that would be happening.

Lemy, on the other hand, was being a bit of an issue. Which, as was natural for Lina, meant that he was going to be her issue. Such was her job as his half-sister-cousin-also-kinda-step-sister-this-is-confusing.

"Ah…wait, you're being grouchy-Lemy again, aren't you?" It took a moment for the little hamster wheel in Gloom's head to turn, but it eventually dawned on her that her brother was not being entirely honest about his enthusiasm.

"What, me? Noooo." Lemy started laying the sarcasm on extra-thick. "You know that I am nothing if not hyped at all times to deal with the latest pile of bullshit that's put on my plate, Gloom."

"Oh, come on, Lemy, don't be like that!" Gloom puffed up her cheeks. "This is a fun day! Everybody's gonna be there! Not just you guys at Dad's house, but Terry and Sonnette and maybe even Panther and Marla! Don't you know how hard it is to get everyone together like that? And we're finally gonna be able to hang out with them all at once! It's going to be soooo much fun!"

"Heheh…well, you are right about all of that, Gloom." Lina felt now was a good time to interject, wrapping her arm around her half-sister's shoulders and pulling her tight as she spoke. "The party today will indeed be a lot of fun, there's no doubt about that. But it's not the fun that Lemy's thinking about when he's looking at the situation."

"Huh?" Gloom looked back at Lina. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you gotta look at it from Lem's perspective a bit." Lina waved her arm towards their brother. "Sure, it's cool that the whole fam's gonna be together at one place. But just like you said, it's hard to get them all there. Both because everyone's got their own schedule, and because they…don't always get along, you know?"

"Oh. I guess…" The look on Gloom's face implied that hamster wheel in her head was spinning again.

"So, once we're all together in the same place, there're good odds that somebody's gonna get ticked off over some dumb shit," continued Lina. "Like Lupa and Leia scrapping, or Marla getting pissed Lacy's around. And when that happens, guess who'll have to break it up?"

"Yo," called Lemy, hand in the air. "This guy."

"Huh?" Gloom glanced between Lemy and Lina. "Why would Lemy have to do that?"

"Because he doesn't take any guff, he's tenacious when he has to do something, and he can take a licking and keep on ticking." Lina rattled off her brother's good points. "Anyway, that'll be the excuse. The actual reason Lemy will have to do it is because Lyra's going to tell him to."

"Yuuuup." Lemy nodded solemnly. "And boy, lemme tell you how little I want to deal with any of that crap. But given that the only other option is going to be having to listen to another one of Lyra's moralizing speeches, it's not really a choice. I've heard more than enough bullshit about 'my responsibilities' and 'helping out'."

"Well, I suppose I can understand that…" The smile returned to Gloom's face as she looked back to Lemy. "But still, we should look on the bright side! At least for Lulu's sake, because she's so cute and precious and it's her big day!"

"Oh, don't worry, once we're around Lulu you'll see happy-funny-keep-the-baby-smiling Lemy come out," Lemy hastily inserted. "All part of my long-term plan to get on her good side and avoid being eaten."

There was a beat in the conversation before both girls gave Lemy a questioning look and asked, almost in unison, "…eaten?"

"Hey, you guys don't live in the same house with her. YOU didn't see what she did to that cinnamon roll. I've got damn good reasons to worry after that." A bead of sweat trickled down Lemy's cheek as the image flashed in his mind. Lemy shook his head, trying to clear it from his brain. Fear is the mind-killer, Lem. Fear is the mind-killer. "Anyway, yeah, you don't have to worry about me being a party pooper. Lulu's gonna have a fun party, and all. I'm just…not looking forward to the insufferable nagging I'll have to go through once Lyra gets into organizer mode."

Lina rolled her eyes and threw her arm around her brother's shoulders. "Well hey, what's the point in getting bummed by it right now, then? So you're gonna have to deal with some crap later. Doesn't mean we can't blast that outta your mind by having some fun now, right?"

"No…I suppose it doesn't." Lemy smirked as he returned Lina's gaze. "Why, what kind of 'fun' did you have in mind?"

"Hmmm…" Lina put her finger to her lip, playing like she was giving the idea deep thought until she finally answered with a grin, "Wanna go to that convenience store on Wilbur St. and jam outside the store until the old guy comes out swinging a mop at us for 'driving away the customers'?"

Lemy grinned back at his sister. "You know, that's what I love about you, Lina. It's like you can read my mind."

"Ain't that the case." Lina offered Lemy her fist, which he responded to by bumping it with his own, followed by both of them making a 'pow' noise as they pulled apart. Lina then turned back to Gloom, who watched this routine unfold next to her, before asking, "Hey Gloom, what do you say? Wanna come with us and see how the cool kids have fun after school?"

"Oh…sure!" Gloom cheerfully nodded. "That sound like fun! So…who are these cool kids?"

Both Lemy and Lina gazed back at Gloom, whose innocent smile betrayed the fact that she didn't even realize what a white-hot burn she had just dropped on her siblings. They were both quiet for a moment until Lina turned to Lemy, then back to Gloom and said, "I mean, I get why you'd think this guy isn't cool enough to qualify, but…"

"Pfft…shut up." Lemy reached up and ruffled Lina's hair to cut her off.

"Hahaha…kidding, kidding." Lina gave Lemy a light tap on the shoulder, before wrapping her other arm around Gloom and pulling her close as well. "Just come with us, Gloom, we'll have fun and kill time until Lulu's party."

"Oh-kaaay!" The cheeriness from the gothic girl continued unabated as the trio walked towards the gate out of school. "This'll be fun! I don't usually get the chance to hang out with you guys!"

"Yeah, well, we're usually busy with the band and all. We're just a little freer today because we got told to help out with the party today." Lemy thought for a moment, then glanced back at Lina. "Speaking of, weren't you supposed to try and get Marla to commit to coming tonight?"

There wasn't a response right away, as Lina appeared a bit lost in thought at the moment. After waiting a second for a reply, Lemy looked over to Lina and said, "Uh, Earth to Lina? You there, sis?"

"Hmm? Oh! Yeah, Marla." Lina came back to earth for a moment to answer. "I asked earlier and she kinda blew me off, so I called in a ringer to get her to come. I'm sure it'll all work out. Maybe."

"O…kay…" Lemy's eyebrow arched. "Lina, you doing okay? You kinda started spacing out there."

"Eh…just…you know." Lina thought to herself about the best way to phrase what she was about to say, before shrugging and muttering, "I was just really enjoying the feeling of being pressed between you and Gloom. It's pretty great. Maybe we should do this more…"

"Aaaand I'm out." Lemy wriggled out from under Lina's arm and walked a few paces ahead of the girls, sighing and shaking his head. "Man, of all the ways you could be like Dad, why is that the thing you chose?"

"Aw, spoilsport." Lina laughed.

Gloom glanced between the two of them. "Huh? What does he mean, Lina?"

"Oho…curious, are you?" Lina's smirk took on a slightly more…predatory nature. "Well here, lemme tell you all about…"

"Please don't go corrupting Gloom now, Lina." Lemy sighed as he glanced back. "She's only eleven, she doesn't need to deal with…"

"You. The boy there. Stop."

The gruff voice called out to Lemy as they walked out of the gate and turned the corner. Lemy turned back so he was looking forward again, where the voice had come from. Standing there was a tall girl with red hair, wearing rather warm-looking clothes for the nice spring day. Especially the hat, Lemy thought, a furry thing that looked more like what you'd wear while shoveling after a big snowstorm. The boy looked up at the girl and asked, "Uh…you mean me?"

"Да…" The girl muttered something that Lemy missed, then pulled a note out of the pocket of her jacket, which…seriously, she should be sweating bullets in that thing, and it wasn't even that hot out. She scanned the note for a moment, glancing up at Lemy periodically, as if to confirm something. "Light brown hair…and headband…this one. You are Loud, yes?"

That only confused Lemy more, not helped by Lina muttering, "Well, Lem, clearly she's already pegged where your volume knob is locked to."

"Can it, you." Lemy rolled his eyes at Lina, who just giggled in return. Turning back to the redhead, he asked with a sigh, "Are you telling me I'm too loud, or…"

"Huh? No…Тьфу, грамматика..." The girl clicked her tongue and muttered again in a language that Lemy didn't recognize. "I mean your name. Is Loud. This is true?"

"Figured. Yeah, that's me. Lemy Loud." Lemy put his hands in his pockets and tried to look tough. Tried, we should stress. "You need something from me?"

"Да, yes." She nodded, answering yes twice, and helping Lemy figure her out to be Russian with that much clearer 'da'. "I am looking for a man. I have heard that you could help me find him. You will help, yes?"

Lemy didn't respond right away. Something about this girl was making him uneasy, and he figured the sooner he could get away from her, the better. "Maybe…who are you looking for?"

"A man named Loud. Ah, a different one," the girl replied. "Name is Lincoln Loud. Do you know where he is?

Hearing his dad's name set off a couple flags in Lemy's head. The first was irritation, because dammit, he really didn't want to think of the old man if he didn't have to. The second was concern, naturally, because it really wasn't an everyday occurrence for giant Russian girls to pop up and ask where your dad is. And then third was really WILD concern, because anyone outside the family asking about Dad was worrisome.

Beyond that, there was the immediate concern behind him. Lina and Gloom were still standing back there, and while Gloom still looked cheerful, the playful smirk was gone from Lina's face, replaced by a slightly worried look. Lemy didn't know what trouble this big Ruskie was involved in with Dad, but at the moment, every brother instinct in his body was shouting at him that he had to at least get the girls out of this situation.

"Sorry, never heard of him before." Lemy turned on his heels and walked to Lina and Gloom, putting his hands on their shoulders and walking with them in the opposite direction of the redhead. "You're asking the wrong person, I'm afraid. Anyway, I've got to get going now…"

"Wait…" The Russian called out to him before he could get too far. "I was told the Loud boy who goes to this school is family to Lincoln Loud. You must know where he is. Now tell me, where…"

"I dunno who told you that, but like I said, you've got the wrong guy." Lemy didn't look back as he responded, instead leaning closer to Lina and whispering into her ear. Once he had relayed his message, he yelled back. "Anyway, you shouldn't trust everything people tell you, it could get you in trouble one of these da-!"

Lemy's words were immediately cut off, as a hand reached out from behind him, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and quickly lifted him up…straight off the ground.

He was then spun around so that he was now facing the Russian girl, who retained the bored and disinterested look she had on her face when she was just asking for information, not physically accosting him. She sighed a bit before she spoke again, saying, "Perhaps there has been miscommunication. This is not a request. You will tell me now: where is Lincoln Loud?"

"Ghk…!" Lemy choked a bit as he struggled against her grip…shit, she was damn strong. But he only really needed to distract her for a second…

"There is no point is resisting. Now, I will…" The Russian began to ask again, but stopped, as she realized what Lemy was doing. She looked over to where the two girls who had been with Lemy had been a moment ago, but they were gone. Looking down the street, the Russian saw the back of Gloom's frilly dress for just a moment, before Lina, who had her hand tightly gripped, turned the corner, taking her sister with her out of sight.

"I see…clever." The Russian nodded before she returned her gaze to Lemy. "You told them to run, then? Well, is fine…I prefer not to have to do this, you see. Especially with girls."

"Really? That…so…?" Lemy barked back, as he continued to struggle. "Doesn't really…seem…to be the…case…!"

"Perhaps not. In any case, you still have not answered question. Now…" The big girl leaned in closer to Lemy, staring him straight in the eyes as she again asked, "Where is Lincoln Loud?"

"Told you…I don't…!" Lemy shouted as he continued to struggle.

"Stop playing game. You are his family, I know this." The Ruskie cut off Lemy's excuse before he could get it out. "I know you are stalling, hoping to let girls escape or draw attention. It will not work. Now answer my question."

"Guh…" Lemy clicked his tongue. Welp, so much for that plan. At least Lina took off quick, so she and Gloom should be way the hell out of here by now.

"Loud boy…I will say this once." The girl glowered, her voice becoming very harsh. "I do not wish to hurt you for this. But I will. If I must. Now, will you answer, or…?"

She lifted up her fist, its meaning obvious. Lemy glanced back, confirming that the girls were totally out of sight by now, before looking back to the Russian and nodding, "Fine, just…put me…down. Getting hard…to breathe…like this."

"Hmm…all right." The Russian smirked, lowering Lemy until his feet were on the ground, though she maintained her grip on his shirt. "This is better, yes? Now then, you will answer. Where is…"

Lemy moved before she could get the question out. With one swift motion, he grabbed the hand that was holding his shirt with one hand and quickly struck the underside of her wrist with the other, balled into a fist.

"Gah!" The quick strike surprised the Russian, whose grip gave way only slightly, but just enough for Lemy. He pulled her hand off his shirt, dropped down and raced around her, and immediately started booking it once he was behind her. She tried to spin around and grab him, but by the time she could turn he was already out of her range.

"Thank you Aunt Lynn thank you Aunt Lynn thank you Aunt Lynn thank you Aunt Lynn!" Lemy shouted as he sped away, thinking back to all those seemingly pointless self-defense lessons that finally came into good use.

"You…!" The redhead seethed, before collecting herself. She glanced back in the opposite direction, giving half a thought to trying to find the girls that were with him, before shaking her head and taking off in pursuit. "Come back here, Loud boy! You will talk!"

Lemy kept up the pace, quickly taking a corner down an alley and getting out of view, if only for a second, as she too made the turn and maintained her pursuit. And it was only at this point, once they were both out of sight, that Lina poked her head out from around the corner she and Gloom had just run past.

"Are they still there?" Gloom, who was standing next to Lina and trying to catch her breath, asked her sister. The girls had, as Lemy had muttered to Lina moments ago, immediately booked it at the first sign of trouble. But once they were certain that the Russian wasn't coming after them, Lina insisted they head back to school and see if they could help Lemy, arriving just in time to see him break from her grip and take off.

"No…they're gone. Just ran off." Lina clicked her tongue. "Dammit, if we'd gotten here a bit sooner, maybe I could have gotten Lemy out of there, or helped him out, or…"

Lina trailed off, shaking her head. She couldn't have done that, not with Gloom here. Lemy was right, protecting their little sister was the top priority. As much as Lina might have wanted to help Lemy out, she needed to stay with Gloom and get her somewhere safe.

"What do we do, Lina? We've got to help Lemy!" And yet Gloom herself was imploring her sister to do the opposite, of course. The girl's kindness knew no bounds and was probably a part of why Lemy told Lina to bail with her. If she had stayed, she'd have wanted to help out and gotten into this trouble with him.

"I know, I know…damn it. This is above my pay grade." Lina took out her phone and started going through her contact list. She reached Lyra's name, but stopped before she started the call. "Crap…Lyra keeps her phone off at school, and she's staying late for her study group. She won't see it if I call her."

"There's gotta be someone we can call for help!" Gloom implored her sister.

"Yeah, I know, just…" Lina kept looking through her contacts, when the idea of who to call popped into her head. She tapped the phone as she muttered, "Welp, desperate times and all…"

The phone rang twice before it picked up. "Hello, you've reached Leia Loud, cookie saleswoman extraordinaire. To whom do I owe…?"

"Lei, it's Lina." The older girl talked rapidly. "I need to call in my favor."


	3. Chapter 3

A second video feed popped up in front of Z-29, joining the one she had been watching. Sitting down at a wooden table, in a park not far from Royal Woods elementary, was Leia Loud, flanked by a pair of older girls that Z-29 had seen with Leia before, the ones Aunt Lynn kept calling her 'lackeys', or her 'Lefty and Righty'. Another girl was with them…or, near them, at least, as she seemed to be doing stretches of some kind. This girl Z-29 hadn't seen before, though she seemed to be with Leia too.

In any case, she now had the other side of the phone call. It would probably help to listen in to this side, she thought, so she tapped the console a few times and brought the volume up on the new feed.

...

"Really, now?" Leia placed the teacup she had been drinking out of down on the table next to the teapot, using the now free hand to snap her fingers and grab the attention of Gwen and Marsha, who had been talking amongst themselves, but quickly quieted down at the boss's direction. "I was wondering how long you were going to hold onto that. So, what can I help you with, Lina?"

"It's Lemy," came the slightly frantic voice on the other end of the call. "He's in a jam, and way bigger than the jams he normally finds himself in. You need to help me bail him out."

"…Lemy?" The disdain was evident in Leia's voice as she uttered her brother's name, drawing a chuckle out of Gwen and an eyeroll out of Marsha. "You want to use your favor to help…Lemy. Am I getting this right?"

"Yeah, and I'm gonna need you to move fast on it." Lina quickly replied. "We gotta find him quickly, before that big Ruskie gets her mitts…"

"Lina, you know this favor you've got is a one-time deal, right?" Leia sighed. "Now, I'm not one to tell you how and when to use it, but don't you feel it would make more sense to save it for something more…important? After all, once it's gone, it's gone, and you don't want to feel like you've wasted…"

"Leia, this is serious!" Lina cut off Leia before she could finish her sentence. "Lemy is actually in trouble here! I don't have time to deal with this crap right now!"

"Riiight. So…" Leia paused for a second before she continued, "…you're really certain that you want to…"

"Goddammit, YES I'm certain! This is what I want to use my favor on!" The voice on the other side replied so loudly that Leia had to pull the phone away from her ear. "Now are you going to fucking help me or what?"

"Well, not with that kind of language, I won't." Leia calmly replied, putting on a faux-Lyra voice as she playfully admonished her half-sister, drawing another laugh from Gwen. "Kidding, of course. Go ahead then, give me the details."

Leia motioned to Marsha, who pulled a notepad and pencil out of the bag on the table and passed it to the younger girl. Leia started scribbling quickly as she listened to Lina's explanation of the situation, muttering, "Mmhmm…uh huh. Go on," as she continued to jot down notes.

"…and I think that's everything." Lina finished her explanation on the other end. "So, what do you think?"

"What I think is that I like this girl already." Leia smirked as she finished her notes. "Anyway, yes, I think I can do something. I'll try and track Lemy down, then give you a call with the next steps from there, okay? Bye for now, Lina."

She hung up the phone, then sighed as she looked over her notepad. Gwen leaned in and asked, "So, what'd that idiot get into this time, Leia?"

"Well, if I'm to believe Lina…" The younger girl didn't bother looking up from her notes as she answered Gwen, "He's currently being chased through town by a giant Russian girl who hoisted him up by the scruff of his neck and asked to know where Daddy is. Apparently."

Gwen and Marsha exchanged confused looks for a moment before glancing back to Leia, as Marsha replied, "You're pulling our leg, right?"

"Who knows? But I imagine there's at least some truth to it, because Lina wouldn't have wasted her favor on a hoax." Leia looked over to the girl nearby the table and, putting her hand to her lips, whistled for her, calling, "Kimberly!"

"Ah? Coming, Leia!" The fourth girl stopped mid-stretch, turning and joining the others at the table. "What's up?"

"There's something I could use your help with, Kimberly." Leia put on one of her better smiles as she addressed the newcomer. "Are you free to help out?"

"Oh yeah, of course!" Kimberly nodded cheerily. "I'm not doing anything. Was just gonna do some light jogging across town, but that can wait. Whatcha need?"

"I need you to find my cousin Lemy. You remember him, right? Dopey, surly, insufferable, wears a dumb headband at all times?" Gwen had to fight her instinct to start laughing as she listened to Leia's description.

"Uh, I think so…" On the other hand, most of that description seemed to fly over Kimberly's head, as she thought it over for a moment before answering, "The boy in middle school you yell at a lot, right?"

"Close enough. Just remember that and the stupid, stupid headband, ok?" Leia nodded back to Kimberly. "One other thing, though. It's possible that Lemy's in a bit of trouble, even that he's being chased by someone. So I don't want you to go up to him when you find him. Keep a good distance, watch him for a couple minutes, see if you can figure out his situation. Once you feel like you've got an idea of what's going on, give me a call and I'll let you know what to do from there. Sound good?"

"Mmhmm, I got it." Kimberly nodded, getting one last stretch in before leaving. "Where should I look for him?"

"Well, he was last seen…ducking in an alley near the middle school." Leia consulted her notes. "Given his direction, he'll probably head towards Main St. and Michigan Ave. Look around that area…if he's there, trust me, you'll be able to hear him."

"Aye aye, sir!" Kimberly gave a salute, before she turned and started dashing off, yelling back, "I'll track him down for you!"

"Stay safe, Kimmy!" Leia waved after Kimberly until she turned the corner and disappeared from view. Once she was gone, she turned to Gwen and Marsha and said, "Useful, happy to help, and doesn't ask questions…it's official. I love that girl. Great job finding her, ladies."

"That's all Marsh, there. Another score for her intelligence network." Gwen pointed at her compatriot. "There's some kind of story behind it, like she was bored because she couldn't do track, right?"

"Something like that. You know how our school has the sixth graders in a sorta-JV team, while the seventh and eighth graders do the actual meets and such?" Marsha started explaining, as Gwen nodded. "Well, apparently, she's so much better than all the other sixth graders that they asked her to stop coming because she's demoralizing to the rest of them. But the idiot coach of the seventh and eight grade team said he won't allow any sixth graders on the team, full stop. So even though Kim's probably already faster than everyone but Marla and Lacy, she's got no team she can compete with and nothing to do after school until next year. All I had to do was offer her something to do, where she could run around as much as she wanted and help us out at the same time."

"Well, she certainly has been a great help to us, so we should probably send that idiot coach our gratitude. And also make plans so that she'll stick around after she gets to seventh grade." Leia nodded, pulling out her cell phone and making a note for herself. "Now then, back to what we were discussing before the interruption. What's going on with the Bluebells, Marsha?"

"See, that's the thing. I suddenly can't find that out." Marsha reached down to her backpack and pulled out a manila folder, which she slid to Leia. "Used to be easy to find out what they were up to. They always had a couple of girls who would leak their activities and cookie sales, posting it on social media and such, which allowed us to beat them there. But that's dried up. Some accounts have been deactivated, others have clammed up, and a couple girls were kicked out of the Bluebells altogether. Take a look."

"Hmmm…" Leia opened the folder, which had evidence of what Marsha was talking about. Bluebell accounts that had been shut down or scrubbed, and a pair of teary posts about the Bluebells telling them they weren't welcome anymore. "That's not good. You suspect something is going on behind the scenes?"

"That was my hunch, so I asked Gwen to see if she could get something out of our Bluebell contacts." Marsha pointed across the table. "And she certainly found something interesting."

"Oh yeah. Apparently, the Bluebells have found themselves a new boss." Gwen continued the conversation. "What I heard is this new girl came in and started gaining power quick, and before anyone knew it, she had control of the whole Bluebell operation in Royal Woods. First thing she did was order the group to go quiet, and anyone who doesn't gets pushed out. Dunno what she's up to now, cause the only source we had inside the Bluebells was one of the first to get purged."

"Ah man, that ain't cool."

"Right? So we're gonna have to be careful from here on out." Gwen nodded. "Finding another source probably won't be possible, so we'll have to hang back and monitor their movements…"

"…Hmmm?" Leia looked up from the manila folder to stare at Gwen. "Who are you talking to?"

"Uh…to you, right?" Gwen gave Leia a confused look. "You just said something, didn't you?"

Leia shook her head. "No, I haven't said anything…"

"Yo. Over here, dude."

All three girls turned in the direction of the new voice, coming from just behind them. A girl was standing there, one who, from an outside observer's perspective, could not be any different from the trio siting at the table. While Leia's group was wearing the chic, tidy, Catholic-school-esque uniforms of their crew, this newcomer was in some of the trashiest clothes you could find: sweatpants that were slightly ripped at the bottom of the legs, a sleeveless t-shirt so short that half her stomach was exposed, and a bandanna that wrapped around her head. Her almost platinum blonde hair hung down from the bandanna like curtains, covering everything but one half-open eye and the mellow grin on her face.

Leia glanced at her two compatriots, both of whom shrugged in response. She finally turned back to the newcomer and asked, "Can we help you, or…?"

"Hell yeah you can. Y'know, they weren't kidding when they said that kids in the burbs are way more chill than city kids." Either the new girl ignored the clear 'go away now' tone of Leia's voice, or it flew over her head entirely, as she took the invitation at face value and sat down next to Gwen, on the corner of the bench, which put her between Gwen and Leia, seated at the head of the table. "I heard you homies were helping find a kid, and I was kinda hoping you'd help me out a bit too. Got a similar situation on my hands, you dig?"

"Really now." The irritation in Leia's voice was growing. "Well, I don't know what you might have heard, but this isn't a charity outfit or a lost-and-found we're running here. We're in the middle of business at the moment, and unfortunately that leaves little time for us to help with whatever your situation is. Now, if you wouldn't mind…"

"Ah, I getcha. You're after that paper, right?" The mellow grin didn't fade as the new girl cut Leia off again. "Well hey, don't worry about me, girl. I can hook you up."

Leia started listening a bit more intently at the mention of 'paper', naturally. Still, she remained skeptical, as another glance at the girl's wardrobe did not instill confidence that she had money to burn. She gave Marsha a quick glance before looking back to the girl and asking, "I see…if that's the case, perhaps there's some arrangement we could come to, Miss…"

"Call me Vikki." The newcomer flashed a peace sign. "Two 'i's, two 'k's, and one big V."

"Mmhmm." Leia's reply was a bit annoyed, as she was hoping for a bit more than just a first name. Her glance over to Marsha was of the 'find me what you can on this girl' kind, and Marsha had acknowledged it by discreetly pulling her cell phone out and preparing to hunt down some info on the girl. Of course, both she and Leia knew that a quick search for 'Vikki' wouldn't narrow things down all that much. "Okay then…you said you were looking for two…kids? Could you tell me more about that? Their names, what they look like…?"

"Sure, alright. The kids are Reina and BJ Santiago. They're twins, about…" Vikki put her hand up. "…this tall. Reina wears glasses, BJ looks scared all the time. And, uh…that good?"

"It's a start." Leia sighed, glancing at Marsha again, who was still discreetly tapping away at her phone under the table. "I suppose we can work on it…that is, if you've still got that 'paper' you mentioned?"

"Oh, no doubt, homie. Let's see here…" Vikki reached into the pocket of her raggedy sweatpants, pulling out a handful of cash. In that the was some cash in her hand, mind. It was not particularly full. "So that's five, six, seven…fifty, sixty, sixty-five, six, sev…$7.69."

The conversation came to a screeching halt. All three uniformed girls looked at Vikki, with a solid beat passing before Leia uttered an indignant, "What?"

"I know, right? Fuckin' niiiice." The renewed hostility of the others again made no impact on Vikki. "So, how about it?"

Marsha managed to keep a dispassionate expression on her face as she slid her phone into her pocket, figuring she didn't need to bother finishing the search. Gwen on the other hand wore a look of astonishment, as if she was unsure whether or not to cuss the idiot out or start laughing out loud. And Leia just fixed a glare on Vikki with a newfound level of indignation, all forms of politesse thrown out the window.

Finally, Leia picked up the teapot on the table and refilled her cup as she said, as businesslike as possible, "Thank you for your…interest, Miss Vikki, but I'm afraid this arrangement won't be working out. Gwen? If you wouldn't mind."

"On it." Gwen stood up when called, walking next to Vikki and putting her hand on her shoulder, saying, "Sorry, dude, but we're done with ya. So why don't we…?"

Rather, Gwen tried to put a hand on Vikki's shoulder. But before she could grab her, the blonde girl just kinda…slipped out of the way? No, it was slicker than that, like she could feel Gwen coming to grab her and moved right before she could make contact, leaving Gwen grasping at nothing but air, muttering a confused, "Wha-?"

"Whoa…some major negative energy coming there, man. Careful with that." Vikki flashed Gwen that same, mellow grin that she always wore, before turning back to Leia and continuing, "And anyway, no need to be so harsh, dude. What I got now'll just be a down payment, I'm good for the rest of it. Come on, help a sister out here."

Leia continued to not look at Vikki, instead sipping her tea as she replied rather matter-of-factly, "I very much doubt you'll be 'good for the rest of it', and frankly I'm done with this discussion. Good-bye, Miss Vikki."

Picking up after her boss, a significantly less-amused Gwen spoke up as she reached for her arm, saying, "Yo, you heard her, right? Like I said, we're done here. Now just come with…"

But again, Gwen's grasping hand caught nothing but air, as Vikki leaned forward just the right way to dodge Gwen's grip yet again. Vikki again tried to reason with Leia, "Aw c'mon, no need for that. We can be cool here, right? Look, alright, I get it. But hey, if you can't help me out with the search, maybe you can do me a solid and point me towards the other guy I'm looking for? The kids are smart, they're probably already heading his way, so if you tell me where he is, I can track them down. How's that sound?"

If Leia had intended to reply, she would have been cut off by Gwen, who got up out of her seat in a rage as she yelled, "Yo, WHAT is your malfunction, dude? She told you to beat it, so BEAT IT, before I…"

Gwen wasn't holding back this time, using the judo and karate techniques she had learned in training in an attempt to grab onto Vikki. But even with that, and with the blonde still sitting in her seat, Gwen simply couldn't grab her, as Vikki twisted her body to avoid her again, including bending her body back at a ridiculous angle, causing Gwen to miss her entirely and lose balance, falling to the ground. Gwen slammed her fist into the ground as she turned to Vikki and bellowed, "How are you DOING that?"

"Huh? Oh…I dunno, I just kinda bend, y'know?" Vikki shrugged back. "Might be all the yoga, I guess. Been doing that for a while. Great for keeping your positive energy up, man. And it keeps a girl nice and flexible…eh? Know what I'm talking about, homie? Yeah, I bet you kno-"

The slam on the table cut Vikki off. Considering her size, Leia's fist making contact with the wooden table probably shouldn't have made such an impactful sound, but it somehow worked.

Her hostility again radiating off her, Leia fixed her gaze on Vikki and said, "You wanted to ask one question…right?"

"Uh…yeah, dog." Even Vikki was thrown off by Leia's rage. "That's all I'm asking for."

"Then ask," said Leia, menacingly. "I'll answer as best I can, and then you will get out of here. Are we clear?"

"Oh yeah. Crystal, homie. Crystal." Vikki nodded. "I'll make tracks once we're done."

Gwen shot Vikki a half-hearted glare as she got up, before shaking her head and standing next to Leia. Flanked again on both sides by her lackeys, Leia raised her teacup to her mouth again as she stated, "One question, then. Shoot."

"Right, so…" Vikki leaned forward, resting her arm on the table, and simply asked, "You guys heard of a dude called Lincoln Loud? Can you point me his way?"

"Ghhk! Koff koff…gak!" As the name crossed Vikki's lips, Leia practically choked on her tea, coughing loudly as Gwen patted her on the back to try and help her.

In the midst of all this, Marsha somehow managed to keep up her poker face, glancing to Leia for a moment to make sure she was okay, before turning to Vikki and asking, "…were you created in a lab to piss Leia off, or something?"

Vikki tilted her head, confused. "Why? What's the problem, homie?"

"YOU!" All trace of the elegance Leia usually tried to cloak herself in was gone, as she slammed her hands on the table and yelled, "HOW do you know that name?! What purpose could you POSSIBLY have…!"

"Whoa, whoa…relax, dog. Ain't no need to go nuclear." Vikki tried to calm the raging girl. "But I guess that means you know my pops then, right dude?"

That single sentence managed to completely wipe out Leia's rage, like a sudden gale smothering a flame.

All the yelling she had been ready to do died in that moment, and she simply stared at Vikki. Finally, after a long pause, she barely managed to mutter, "Your…pops…?"

"Yeah, that's right, man. This dude I'm looking for's my old man," explained Vikki. "Course, I haven't seen much of him myself in a long time, but my mom told me he's around here. Hang on…even got a picture for ya…"

Vikki ruffled through her other pocket for her phone, pulling it out and tapping a bit until she found what she was looking for. "See, here it is…there's mom, and pops, and little me, and that's my Aunt Ronnie in the corner."

The trio looked at Vikki's phone. Sure enough, there was Lincoln, and on his shoulders was a young girl, probably no older than four, with hair that matched Vikki's platinum blonde. Next to Lincoln was a woman who looked very much like an older version of Vikki, while on the other side was another woman, with light brown skin and dark hair.

"That's…him, alright…" Leia's mind was just barely trying to process what she was being presented with. "That…must be your mom…but who's…?"

"Oh, Aunt Ronnie-Anne? She's one of mom's best friends. We live close by in Chicago." Vikki explained as she pointed to the woman in the picture. "Oh, and also, those two little dudes I'm trying to find? She's their mom. Reina's her splitting image, if you add glasses, and…"

"Wait!" Leia barked, cutting Vikki off. "Th-these kids…don't tell me, their dad is…?"

"Ah…yeah, apparently pops had a bit of a, uh, baby-momma sitch with both of them. Weird, I guess, but it is what it is." Vikki shrugged as she put the phone away. "So anyway, how do you know pops?"

Leia was silent for a moment longer, before uttering a weak "Hau~!" and falling backwards into Gwen's arms, fainted.

"Whoa! Leia! Hey! You okay?" Gwen yelled as she tried to steady the girl.

"Damn! Hey, what happened, homie?" Vikki also expressed her concern as Leia went out in front of her.

Marsha was the only one managing not to freak out at the moment, instead pulling her phone out of her pocket as she called out, "Gwen, you have Leia, right? I'm going to get back to searching for info on those two. I have a feeling we're stuck dealing with this stuff now."


	4. Chapter 4

Marsha got up from the table, walking a few paces away from the scene with the other girls to do her search in quiet. It only took a bit of social media searching to find what she was looking for: an image of Reina and BJ Santiago. They weren't the most active on social media, which wasn't the weirdest, considering their pages said they were 9, but Reina did at least have some pictures on her page. Twins, black hair, girl with glasses, boy…yeah, Marsha agreed that 'scared' was a good description of his resting face.

Within a few clicks, Marsha had copied the image and was forwarding it to her contact network, along with the message, "Looking for these two. Request from Scout L. No trouble, white gloves." With the simple message out there, she started making a few calls to some of her best eyes. "It's me…yeah. Yeah, they're good, it's not trouble. Right. Ok, keep me posted."

She hung up, and scrolled through her list until…hmm. The name she was looking at…well, she wouldn't call her a source, per se, but she was a very effective pair or eyes. And this situation involved her as well, so…

With a shrug, she tapped the name and put the phone to her ear. It rang twice before connecting, with the voice on the other side replying, "Whatcha want, Lackey B? I'm a little busy at the moment."

"I'm sure you are, Lupa." Marsha brushed off the insult with her matter-of-fact tone. "But this actually concerns you a bit, so I figured you'd be interested. I'm looking for a couple of kids."

"That so? Well, finding a couple kids ain't that hard. Unless you're looking for specific ones, that is, and not just any random kids you can harvest." Lupa wasted no time in taking the situation to the macabre place she was so familiar with. "So, which is it, specific ones or ones that won't be missed?"

"Specific ones." Marsha didn't miss a beat. This was just the kind of conversation one had to expect when chatting with Lupa Loud. "I actually just sent a picture out to the network you can check, if…"

"Yeah, like I said, little busy, so I can't really check things at the moment." Lupa cut Marsha off. "Why don't you just go ahead and tell me what I should look for?"

She didn't sound hurried, Marsha thought, but arguing that point would be just the most incredible waste of time. When dealing with Lupa, one must be prepared to also deal with her particular brand of bullshit. "Alright…it's a pair of twins. Girl and boy, Leia's size. Light brown skin, black hair, the girl wears glasses, and the boy looks…how should I say this…?"

"Mmhmm. Here's a question." Lupa responded before Marsha could complete her thought. "Would 'constantly on the brink of tears' be a solid description of this boy?"

Marsha's eyebrow arched as Lupa's fairly spot-on description came through. "Yes…I suppose it would. Lupa, you wouldn't have…"

"Heheheh…well, aren't we both lucky today." Lupa's signature cackle from the other end confirmed Marsha's suspicions. "As fortune might have it, yeah. I've seen those kids. The boy is standing just a few feet away from me and the girl is…hang on…yep, still trying to bite my hand. Again."

...

As soon as the phone call had gone through to Lupa, a second window had popped up on Z-29's screen. There, the alternate Lulu could indeed see a rather clear image of Lupa holding a young girl at arm's length, as the younger girl snapped unsuccessfully at the hand keeping her at bay.

An intriguing scene, but not exactly an illuminating one. Lulu began working the console, rewinding the video feed from that side of the conversation a few minutes. Once she had reached a suitable moment, she hit play again, and the feed resumed.

...

"Okay, just being sure…you're not following me, right?"

"For the last time, no, I'm not following you, Marla." The feminine boy behind her rolled his eyes as he replied. "I swear, I'm just going to check out a place that sells archery equipment, and it's a total coincidence that it's near your house. That's all."

"Kay. Cool. Just checking." Marla turned her eyes forward again, back to the sidewalk. She had left school not that long ago, having blown off track club racing because she just really didn't want to deal with Lacy today. As luck would have it, as she left, Lyle was walking behind her, also leaving school for the day. She gave a customarily terse greeting…which was more than most people got, but Lyle was her new morning training neighbor of sorts, so he got just a smidge more politeness out of Marla…and started walking towards home.

Lyle, however, was still following behind her as she started walking out. When she turned to head towards her house, Lyle turned at the same time. After a few minutes, she had flat-out asked if her was stalking her, to which he replied with his 'archery store' cover story. A likely excuse.

"I'm just sayin', if we make it to my street and there's no archery store, your ass is getting karate'd so hard." Marla glanced over to Lyle as she made her threats.

"How very good for my ass, then, that there is indeed an archery store that I am walking to." Lyle retorted, shrugging off the intimidation attempt. "One of my goals for the day was to avoid any karate-ing, after all."

"Mmhmm. Right." Eyes forward again, Marla walked on.

"Good that we have an agreement." Lyle too continued his brisk walking pace.

The two of them walked side by side, silently, until Lyle leaned in closer and whispered to Marla, "In any case, if you're worried about being stalked, am I…really the person you should be talking to?"

Marla didn't respond immediately, though she immediately knew what he was talking about. Without trying to give it away, she threw a quick glance behind her at the person following the two of them. About eight, maybe ten feet behind them, walked Lupa Loud, her snowy hair unmistakable as she followed the two of them, a bemused smirk on her face.

Marla quickly snapped her eyes back to the front as she whispered, "…Just keep acting like you haven't seen her. Maybe she'll get bored and go away."

"I'll admit I haven't known her as long as you, but my read on her is that she's not the type to be dissuaded by the cold shoulder treatment." Lyle's eyes didn't waver from the road ahead. "Quite the opposite, actually."

"…hah…I mean, you're not wrong, but…just, let me believe it will work, ok?" Marla sighed. "At the very least, it'll put off dealing with her for as long as I can."

"If you say so," murmured Lyle, still leaning in close to Marla. "Though, from what I know about her personality, the odds are she's enjoying watching you squirm over whatever it is she's planning."

"Well, then maybe I get lucky and you're the one she's got in her sights." Marla grumbled back. "Then I can just make a break for it once she makes her move."

"I doubt that whatever she's planning involves me. I bumped into her in the halls during school, and she didn't have anything to say to me then." Lyle retorted. "Also, on the off chance she is after me, if you think I'll let you slip away to deal with her alone, you've got another thing…"

"Just fuck already, you two."

"GAH!" Both Lyle and Marla jumped at the sudden voice right behind their ears. They spun around to see Lupa, as expected, who had apparently closed the distance between her and them in about a hundredth of a second, wearing a much more mischievous grin on her face than the one she had before she teleported behind them.

"Goddammit, girl, cut that shit out!" Marla was the first to respond. "You know how much I hate that damn 'right-behind-you' trick!"

"Oh, do you not like it? I had no idea, Marla." Lupa replied, with a smirk that suggested she might have had some inkling as to Marla's opinion of said trick.

"And furthermore! There is nothing like…THAT…going on here, alright?" Marla pressed on with her rage as she grabbed Lupa by the collar. "So don't you even start with me, you hear?"

"Mmhmm. Whatever you say, Marl." That damn smirk only grew wider on Lupa's face. "Just for the record, though, all that leaning in close and whispering into each other ears might make people just a little suspicious."

"There…is…nothing…going…on…!" Marla was now punctuating her statement by shaking Lupa with each word. "Get…that…through…your…head!"

Lyle hung back slightly as he watched Marla's throttling routine, which Lupa did…not seem fazed by. For a moment, he had thought about deflecting Lupa's insinuations a bit by mentioning Marla was, y'know, technically his sister, but then remembered who he would have been talking to and realized that that would have been just the stupidest thing to say.

So instead, he simply put his hand on Marla's shoulder and said, "Marla, not that she doesn't deserve it, but if you keep this up, she's just gonna develop a whole new fetish. And neither you nor I are gonna want to deal with that."

Marla's first thought had been to tell Lyle off for the physical contact, but his words got through to her before she could. Also, a quick look at Lupa's face backed up what Lyle was talking about. Oh no, she was wiggling her eyebrows. Good lord, no.

Without another word, Marla dropped Lupa, who fell on her rear. She turned to go, saying, "Right…well, anyway, you get it. Now then, if you don't mind, I'm going home now."

"And I'm going to an archery store. Which is admittedly in the same direction, but, and I can't stress this enough, that fact is a total coincidence." Lyle also turned to leave. "In any case, we'll be going now, so…"

"Ah ah…not so fast." Before they could take more than a step or two, Lupa had teleported again, this time right beside them, wrapping her arms around their shoulders. "It just so happens I've got business with you today. With both of you, that is."

At this exact moment, Marla and Lyle's reactions were in tune, as they both simultaneously thought, "Dang it."

"Now, don't get mad at me for this one, ok? I'm just the messenger here," continued Lupa. "But your attendance has been requested at Lulu's second birthday party later today, and neither of you have RSVP'd. So I was dispatched to ensure that you will be attending."

"Oh…right. Lina told me about it at lunch." Lyle recalled his conversation with his other sister and band-mate earlier today, and was grateful that Lina's methods involved less stalking. "Yeah, I already told her, I'll head over once I'm done at this store."

"Oh, did you? I suppose I must have forgotten that she had relayed that to me." The look on Lupa's face made Lyle believe she probably thought it would be more fun to 'forget', but he didn't press the point as she turned her head and said, "Well, that's one yes, sooo…Marla?"

"Hard. Pass." Marla shrugged off Lupa's arm as she tried to get away. "Ain't no goddamn way I'm going to any goddamn party at Dad's goddamn fuck-palace. ESPECIALLY not if Lacy'll be there."

"Please stop calling it that. It gets my hopes up, only to be dashed later." Lupa managed to switch her grip from Marla's shoulders to her waist before she could get away. "Also, like I said, I'm to ENSURE your attendance, not hear your excuses, so…"

"Don't need no…excuses!" Marla struggled against Lupa's surprisingly tight grip. "I just…ain't…going, so…!"

"Hey! You three!"

The girls were still busy struggling against each other, so Lyle was the only one to hear this new voice. He turned in its direction, where he saw a pair of kids standing in front of him. A girl and a boy of about elementary age, who looked strikingly similar to each other…well, except for their expressions. The girl had a somewhat annoyed look on her face, and was glaring straight at Lyle, occasionally glancing at the girls behind him, though the fact that they were ignoring her only soured her mood further.

The boy, meanwhile, was standing directly behind his sister, keeping her between him and the strangers. He was practically hiding behind her, and shot her a nervous glance as she addressed the older kids, asking, "Reina, maybe we shouldn't…"

"I'll be fine, Bobby." The girl reassured her brother before turning back to Lyle and asking, "Hey, you can hear me, right?"

"Oh, yeah…sorry, just thinking." Lyle replied, glancing back at the girls still entangled behind him before he addressed the kids again. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, you can. I'm looking for somebody." Reina got straight to the point as she walked up to Lyle, her brother trailing faithfully behind her. "We're looking for our sister…we kinda got separated earlier. About your age, blonde hair, dressed like she just rolled out of a cardboard box. Any chance you've seen her?"

"Huh…" That last bit was certainly a colorful description, and Lyle was very curious as to how she could be dressed to earn that description, but knew he hadn't seen anyone who would fit it. "Sorry, I don't think I've seen her. Do you have a picture or anything like that? I can check with those two," he added, pointing to the girls behind him.

Reina shook her head. "No, I don't…I left my phone at home. Bobby, do you have one?"

"No…my phone's new, so…I haven't taken any pictures with it yet." Bobby copied his sister and shook his head. "Sorry…"

"It's alright…honestly, from your description, it sounds like I'd probably know if I saw her once." Lyle tried to reassure the kids, especially Bobby, who looked like he was liable to cry at a moment's notice. "Anyway, if you give me a bit, I can check with…"

"Elementary kids? Man, Lyle, guess your strike zone really is crazy wide. That's a bit much, even for me."

The cheery expression Lyle had been putting on while talking to the kids faded in an instant. He glanced over his shoulder, where, yup, there was Lupa, ghoulishly grinning as always. Marla was being dragged along with her, desperately trying to unwrap her arm from the goth's. Lyle tried to mask his annoyance as he muttered, "Really wish you wouldn't joke like that."

"Right, right…'jokes'." Lupa chuckled. "Anyway, what's with the twerps?"

"They're looking for their sister. Apparently, they got separated." Lyle quickly explained. "Any chance either of you have seen a blonde girl who looks like…how did it go…"

"Just rolled out of a cardboard box." Reina helpfully added.

"That. Right." Lyle pointed at Reina. "That sound like anyone you've seen?"

"No, but shit, now I sure want to." Lupa shrugged. "Sounds like she'd be a fun running buddy."

Marla just barely managed to get her arm free from Lupa's grasp before she answered, "Yeah, same. I can't remember anyone like that."

"Alright…sorry, guys." Lyle turned back to the kids with an apologetic look. "Don't think we'll be able to help."

"Right…well, it's fine. She should be able to take care of herself." Reina shook her head. A thought briefly flew through Lyle's head that the kids were treating their older sister the same way an adult would treat a lost child, but he put that thought away when Reina continued, "Anyway, she's not the only person we're looking for, so maybe you could help us with the other one?"

"What, you got a human scavenger hunt going or something?" Lupa joked. "Because I've tried those, and it gets hard once the captives start kicking and…mmph phh…"

"Ignore her." Lyle had put his hand over Lupa's mouth to quiet her for a moment. She was probably enjoying it, of course, but he could deal with that once the kids were gone. "Go ahead and tell us about him."

"Okay, sure." Reina nodded. "We're looking for a man named Lincoln Loud. Know where we can find him?"

The three older kids froze the moment the name left Reina's lips. Even Lupa stopped her playful struggling against Lyle's hand to stare at the girl. They were all totally silent, outside of Marla's uttering a single, exasperated, "What."

"Wh-what?" Reina glanced at the older kids, a bit defensively. "Have you heard of him before?"

"Have we…boy, there is just a lot to that answer." Lyle muttered under his breath. He tried to collect himself quickly, getting the smile back on his face as he asked, "I think I might have, but…Reina, Bobby, why are you looking for Mr. Loud?"

"Because he's…ahem." Reina coughed, apparently rethinking what she wanted to say. After a moment, she finished her statement, "He's our dad. Apparently."

At this moment, Lyle somewhat understood why Lemy had blown up the way he had when Lyle first met Lincoln.

"Are you…fuuucking kidding me…" Marla's hand went straight to her forehead.

"W-well? Do you know him or don't you?!" Reina was starting to get agitated. "You sure sound like you know who I'm talking about!"

"Reina, calm down…" Bobby tried to soothe his sister's temper. "There's no need to yell…huh?"

Bobby went quiet as Lupa had taken the distraction they had provided and escaped from Lyle's grasp. She was now standing next to the kids, looking straight down at Bobby, her grin gone, and an oddly blank expression on her face.

"U-um…" Bobby's nerves were not eased by this development. "Wha…what can I…eep!"

Before Bobby could finish his stammering, Lupa had grabbed his head, gently turning it side to side, up and down, as though she were analyzing his face. After a moment, she started murmuring, "I mean…I guess I can see it…a little bit…"

"Wha…hey!" Reina turned and yelled at Lupa. "What do you think you're doing to my brother, you…mmp!"

Again, without waiting for the kid to finish, Lupa grabbed her head, analyzing her the same way. She muttered once again, saying, "It's a little harder to see with you, though. Then again, it's different with girls, so…I guess."

"Lupa." Lyle walked up to the goth and pulled one of her hands away from Reina's face. "That isn't helping right now. Leave the kids alone for a sec, okay?"

"I'm just checking, alright?" Lupa defended herself. "I mean, there's no reason to doubt it, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't…"

*CHOMP*

This time it was Lupa's turn to be interrupted before finishing her thought. A growl came from the kid between her and Lyle, causing the two of them to look down. Apparently, having one of Lupa's hands pulled away freed Reina up enough to take defensive measures.

She wriggled away from the hand that Lupa had kept on her face, and bit down on the side of Lupa's palm.

There was a silence of a moment or two before Lupa smacked the top of Reina's head with her free hand, calmly saying, "Leggo, kid."

"Ow!" The smack was sharp enough for Reina to release her bite-grip, as she recoiled.

"Don't hit the kid, you idiot!" Marla shouted at Lupa.

"Hey, that one was self-defense." Lupa replied, still calm as she shook the hand that was just being chomped on. "I'd rather not have her drawing blood, cool as that might look."

"Grrah!" Reina snapped at Lupa again, but this time she was caught, as Lupa grabbed her head with the unbitten hand and held her at arm's length. The younger girl struggled to get at her again, but Lupa held her firmly in place.

There were a lot of questions Lyle wanted to ask at the moment, yet somehow, the one that managed to clear his brain and escape his mouth was asking Lupa, "Why do you look like you have experience doing that?"

"Because this was Leia's go-to tactic not too long ago." Lupa replied, simply enough. "Before she started getting lackeys to fight her battles fo…"

Lupa was interrupted as music started playing from somewhere, a loud guitar riff with…violin backing? Lyle couldn't place it, but when Lupa took out her phone, he realized that he probably should have guessed that it was her ring tone. "Well, speak of the devil…" Lupa chuckled, before she tapped on the phone and put it to her ear. "Whatcha want, Lackey B? I'm a little busy at the moment."

Which brings us, neatly, back in line with the other side of the phone call.

"…and the girl is…hang on…yep, still trying to bite my hand. Again." Lupa continued her conversation with Marsha, still holding Reina at arm's length. "Anyway, this is just me hazarding a guess, but this doesn't sound like something Leia'd ask about, so who…like she rolled out of a carboard box in the gutter, right? Yeah…no, that kinda pieces together with what we've heard here. Mmhmm…oh you've got a picture? With…their dad…yeah, we might have already figured that part out, Sherlock…yeah. Ok, right. I'll call you later."

With that, Lupa hung up the phone and slipped it into her pocket. She looked to be deep in thought for a moment, which contrasted well with the actual image of her trying to keep a still-somewhat-scrapping Reina at arm's length, before she sighed, looked down at the younger girl and asked, "Hey, could you stop? It's time to play nice now."

"Shut up!" Reina snapped back. "All you've done is tease me and Bobby! No way am I gonna play nice with…"

"Ah, come on." Lupa smirked at Reina. "That's no way to talk to your big sister, is it?"

Reina's struggling stopped all at once. She looked up at Lupa, mouth agape, and just barely managed to get out, "…big…sister?"

"Mmhmm. Now then…" While she was distracted, Lupa pushed Reina towards Lyle, walking away from the two of them as she continued, "…play nice with your big brother for a second. Big sis has work to do."

"Big…wha…" A flustered Reina looked around, first at Bobby, who had no idea how to handle the situation and was seemingly just trying to hold himself together, then up at Lyle as she yelled, "What is she talking about? What's going on?!"

"Hah…yeah, I uh…I know the feeling, Reina." Lyle tried to calm Reina down, though he too was putting together the pieces of what exactly was happening here. "Well, there's a lot we should talk about, so…for the moment let's just…"

Before he could continue, the loud screech of the guitar/violin riff hit again, as Lupa pulled her phone back out of her pocket. "Dammit, why am I blowing up now of all…Hello, this is Lupa Loud, I'm busy at the moment, so please…augh, fine, Lina, I'll shut up, but dammit, this better be good, I'm dealing with some serious shit at the…what? Are you…what."

Lupa went quieter as the phone call went on, causing Lyle and Marla to exchange nervous glances, before finally the goth said, "Okay then…I'm close enough so I'll…yeah. I'll be in touch." She hung up the phone and quickly put it away, staying quiet for a moment before she glanced at Lyle and Marla and said, "There is apparently a giant Russian girl chasing down Lemy in the streets."

The other two stared at her, exchanging a quick look of disbelief before Marla asked, "Okay, NOW you're shitting us, right?"

"Man, I wish I could pull shit this insane." Lupa replied quickly, before starting to walk off. "The kids' sister is in the park by the elementary. You two take 'em there. This is officially above my pay grade. I'm gonna go grab the boss, this is her problem now."


	5. Chapter 5

Lupa set off, and the video feed split into two, one feed following her and the other staying with the group of Lyle, Marla, and the twins. Z-29 tapped at the console a few times, fast forwarding through Lupa's walk to her destination, which turned out to be another school: bigger than the middle school she had just left, and the older-looking kids milling about as she fast-forwarded had her assume that it was the high school. The feed showed Lupa walking into the building, making her way to the library, and then meeting a group there with…

Hmmm. Well, this was an interesting group here. Z-29 hadn't really had a chance to look at these two, especially, since she had arrived…maybe now would be a good time? Instead of playing Lupa's feed, she rewound the video, focusing instead on the feed that stayed with the other girls she had met up with.

...

"Okay, Terr…go ahead and start from the beginning, if you could."

"All right, love…so, it all started about two weeks ago, when…"

"Strike that." Lyra rubbed her forehead, as she could feel a migraine starting to come on. "I actually don't need quite that much backstory. When I said, 'the beginning', I was actually hoping for something a bit closer to…y'know, today. Start there, instead."

"Hah? Oh…right, right, I follow ya." The girl sitting across the table from her nodded. Compared to Lyra, wearing her regular, modest-looking purple jacket on a white shirt and jeans combo, this girl seemed to be trying to rack up as many dress code violations as she could cram into one ensemble: A cut top that showed off all of her midriff, a mesh undershirt, and short-shorts that didn't make it down her upper thigh. "If we're starting with today, then I guess it started when I saw the janitors take out that big ol' bag of recycled bottles. And I just felt inspiration hit me, like BANG! Y'know?"

"Yes, Terry, I DO know how most of your moments of inspiration come with a 'bang'." Lyra's facial expression made it look like that migraine was sticking around. "But from my point of view, that 'bang' is the whole problem, isn't it?"

Terry blinked at Lyra, with a somewhat oblivious look on her face. After saying silent for a bit, she leaned to her left, asking the girl who sat there, "Hey, Lib, what's…"

"She means that the 'bang' you're describing is like an explosion." Liby, sitting on that side of the table, answered instantly, without even looking up from the numerous books and papers that surrounded her like a mini-fort. "And, like explosions, your bad ideas tend to leave a lot of destruction in their wake, which someone, USUALLY Lyra, has to clean up."

"Right. That's exactly it. Thanks, Liby." Lyra pointed her finger toward her sister behind the book barricade. "By the way, Lib, don't feel like you have to stay here with me. Liena went home early to get working on the party prep, so you can go too if you want."

"Are you kidding? Do you know how often I get a few minutes alone to use the 7e sourcebooks the library has without someone asking me to help them with their English homework?" Liby quickly replied, before a smirk curled across her face. "So tough luck, but you won't be DRAGON me outta here anytime soon!"

Liby's laugh at her own joke was met with groans from the rest of the girls at the table with her. Before she could ask the question they all knew was coming, Lyra spoke first, saying, "Yes, Liby, we get it. If you're fine waiting for us, then that's okay."

"Also, doesn't the library have newer D&D books?" Terry asked. "Can't you use those too?"

"Sure, if I wanted to fill a campaign with TRASH, I could." All traces of joking were gone from Liby's voice as she responded to Terry's inquiry. "Everyone knows that 8e and 9e are major steps back from 7e. It's almost offensive to even call those systems D&D."

Terry glanced over to Lyra, who simply shook her head, as if telling her sister that she did not want to continue with that topic. "A…alright, whatever you say, Lib. So…er, where were we…?"

"The recycled bottles." Lyra reminded her.

"Right, of course…so, inspiration hits me. See, for my next video, I'd been planning to grind down those big rails, the ones on the stairs between the school and the football field, y'know?" Terry started to explain herself. "But it always felt like it was missing something. There's plenty of big rail-grinding vids out there, mine needed something extra to make it POP, you know? Well, what could be a better way to do that then by ending my grind with a kickflip over a big pyramid of bottles?"

"Yes, what could be better?" Lyra's reply was dripping with sarcasm.

"Right?" Said sarcasm naturally bounced off of Terry's thick skull. "Anyway, the plan was to grab a bag or two of the bottles, set up the pyramid, get filmin' and record the trick during lunch. And it would have gone off without a hitch, except…well…"

"Right…gonna stop you there, Terr." Lyra turned her head to the left, asking the girl sitting there, "So, why didn't it work, Sonnette?"

The seat on the last side of the square table was occupied by a girl with long black hair, and an attire that was every bit as ridiculous as Terry's, albeit in different ways. She wore a floral-pattered Japanese top over a tracksuit to go with the mask on her face. Earlier in the day, the mask had a cute, cat-mouth design on it, but, following the day's events, she had switched to an angry demon-teeth mask instead. She had been glaring at Terry ever since this conversation had started, and even after Lyra had asked her the question, she continued to glare as she answered, "彼女はばかだったから."

"Mmhmm." Lyra sighed before turning back to the book-fort. "Hey Liby, can I get a translation?"

"She said, 'Because she was an idiot'." Liby again didn't look up as she replied.

"Thanks." Lyra turned back to Terry again. "So, how were you an idiot this time, Terry?"

"Hahaha…weeeell…" Terry bashfully scratched the back of her head. "Apparently, the bag we grabbed wasn't full of recycled bottles? It was actually, er, new bottles. That were…full of water and OJ and energy drinks, and…you know. Which was heavier than we expected, and so we dropped it. Pretty hard. And after it hit the ground, the bottles may have…spilled. A little bit."

"You flooded the entrance at door #6, Terry." Lyra interjected before Terry could continue. "And you got Sonnette soaked."

"羽織を脱いでよかった." Sonnette added as she clutched her patterned top.

"Yeah, good thing you had taken that haori off, Sonnette, or it would be as gross as the rest of your clothes right now." Liby replied to Sonnette, who nodded sadly.

"Aw, it wasn't that bad, was it?" Terry tried to defend herself a bit. "I mean, come on Sonnette, we've been through worse, haven't we?"

"うるさい、ばか." Sonnette's quick reply had plenty of obvious venom in it, even for those who didn't understand the Japanese to get exactly what she was saying.

"Whether you've 'been through worse' or not isn't the point, Terry." Lyra picked the conversation back up again. "The principal was rather furious at you for this one. He was still really unhappy when I met with him before last bell."

"Y-yeah?" Terry kept up a strong front, though her nerves were showing a bit. "Why, what did he…"

"After-school detention for the next two weeks." Lyra cut Terry off as she answered. "During which time, you'll be helping the janitors clean the whole school to make up for the mess you made."

"What? Aw, come on, Lyra!" Terry bolted up out of her seat. "That's way too much! Can't you do anything to help…"

"I already did. That's what you got AFTER I argued down your sentence." Lyra's response was sharp once again. "Otherwise it might have been two months, not weeks."

"Oh, man…that suuuucks." Terry slid back down into the chair. "There's really nothing you can do?"

"The most I could do was to have your punishment start tomorrow, so that you can attend Lulu's birthday party." Lyra sighed. "Other than that, you're out of luck, I'm afraid. Best to just keep your head down and avoid making Principal Kean mad again for the next few months."

"Aw maaaaaan." Terry slumped forward, laying her head on the table. "I had so many plans next week. Hanging out with Gaby, skateboarding with Tim, chilling with Cecelia…"

"If you think that's going to make me feel bad about the situation you find yourself in, it won't." Lyra replied coldly to Terry's plight. "You'll have to reschedule whatever sinning you had planned for later, I suppose."

"Yeah, and it was gonna be such sweet sinning, too." Terry mumbled on as yet another poke at her went straight over her head. "So lame, man…"

"Yes, we've heard. Anyway…" Lyra tried to move the conversation along. "Don't you think it's about time you apologized?"

Terry didn't budge for a moment, until she poked her head up slightly and asked, "Whuzzat?"

Lyra sighed deeply once more, until she pointed to her left. Sonnette was, indeed, still sitting there, still keeping up the harsh glare she had been shooting Terry's way since they sat down in the library.

"…oooh." Terry got the message, as she sat up straight in her chair. Turning to Sonnette, she bowed her head respectfully and said, "Sorry, Sonnette-sensei, for ruining your clothes. I promise I will make it up to you in the future."

Sonnette's glare didn't waver just yet. She continued to stare a hole through Terry until she finally grumbled, "本当に約束しますか？"

Terry kept her head bowed as she called out, "Hey Lib…"

"She said, 'Do you seriously promise?'" Liby replied in an instant.

"Right…yeah, of course I do." Terry looked up and nodded at Sonnette. "You know you can count on me, right sis?"

A beat hung in the air for a moment before Sonnette finally softened her expression, sighing as she mumbled, "それでいいよう," and flashed Terry a thumbs up.

"Alright, cool." Terry lifted her head, then raised her arms in a hug-beckoning motion. "C'mon, sis, bring it in."

"ハグはだめ." Sonnette appeared to back off, but Terry got up and hugged her anyway. The look on Sonnette's face seemed to indicate annoyance at first, then eventually shifted into resignation.

"Well, once you're done hugging it out, maybe I could move on to the next topic I've been asked to bring up today?" Lyra looked over to the hugfest going on to her left.

"Sure, sure." Terry gave Sonnette one last squeeze before letting go and turning back to Lyra. "So, what's next on the docket, boss?"

"This one is for Sonnette, actually." Lyra glanced over to the masked girl. "Several of your teachers have inquired as to when you intend to start speaking English again, Sonnette. Adding, I might point out, that keeping up with your insistence on only speaking Japanese is starting to exhaust them, and they would prefer it ended sooner rather than later."

"えええ～、なんで？" Sonnette's tone was clearly complaining. "私はまだ宿題をしている."

"Sonnette, just because you're still doing your work doesn't mean it isn't a pain." Liby cut in, closing one of the books in front of her and adding it to fort as she spoke. "Not just for your teachers, but for me too. I keep getting pulled out of my classes to help translate for you, since they don't know what else to do."

"See? It's causing trouble for everybody, and your teachers really want you to cut it out." Lyra continued. "Now, I know you told me you're doing it to improve your Japanese skills, and I'm totally supportive of that, but you've got to give a little ground here, alright? Just go back to English during your classes, at least."

"はああ～...わかったよ." Sonnette let out a sigh before she answered with a nod.

"Okay…" Lyra glanced over at Liby, who gave her a thumbs up that, indeed, that was a 'yes' from Sonnette. "Good, then. I suppose that should satisfy them. Though they are curious as to what brought this about and all…"

"Oh, I can answer that." Liby jumped in before Sonnette answered. "She told me she reeeally wanted to watch her favorite manga's anime adaptation without subtitles, so she could enjoy it without having to keep an eye on the bottom of the screen. So she decided to sharpen up her Japanese before it airs in a couple months."

Lyra glanced over to Liby, not saying anything right away, before looking back to Sonnette and asking, "…that's it?"

Sonnette didn't reply right away, thinking about it for a moment before she finally nodded and said, "魔法少女プリズムちゃんは本当にすごいです."

"I mean, you're right, Magical Girl Prism-chan is really good, but speaking only Japanese for months to prep for it is a little over the top, Sonnette." Liby replied as Lyra brought her hand to her forehead. "I mean, talk about getting 'lost in translation'…hah? Get it?"

Another groan escaped from the other girls assembled. Liby continued to look around for a good reaction, and eventually Lyra replied to her hopeful look by saying, "I'll overlook that one, just because I'm grateful that you learned Japanese a while back to play that imported RPG Dad bought. It's made all our lives quite a bit easier these last few weeks."

Before anyone else could say anything, the girls heard a beeping noise…quiet, but audible. Lyra checked the watch on her wrist, which displayed a message for her, and tapped it once, silencing the beeps. "Well, that's my cue…I've got to go, girls."

"Running errands for the party tonight?" Liby asked as Lyra got up from her seat.

"Something like that, yeah. Speaking of…" Lyra slid her chair back under the table after she got up. "If you girls don't have anything else to do, would you mind heading to our house? I'm sure Liena could use a hand before things get started, and you're both better cooks than I am."

"Yeah, sure, no prob." Terry nodded, as Sonnette flashed Lyra a thumbs up. "Sides, I'm pretty free. Kept my calendar clear for fun times with Double Lu, you know?"

"Alright, thanks girls." Lyra smiled as she picked up her bag from the table and slung it over her shoulder. "Liby, don't get so absorbed in those books that you forget to go home until late, okay?"

"Don't worry, I won't forget…uh, again." Liby waved Lyra off.

"Okay then." Lyra turned to walk out. "I'll be leaving now. Girls, if you need anything, you can always reach me, I've got my…"

"Your phone."

"Gah!" the girls still at the table jumped a bit from the sudden voice piping up from behind them. Lyra, however, managed to keep her composure…enough experience had helped her deal with Lupa's pop-up-from-nowhere trick.

"Lupa…what are you doing here?", asked Lyra. "I thought you were going straight home after…"

"Like I said. Turn. On. Your. Goddamn. Phone." Lupa's voice was lacking in any of her usual playfulness as she pointed her finger at Lyra. "Do you have ANY idea how much bullshit I've been having to put up with because no one can reach you right now?"

"LANGUAGE, Lupa." Lyra admonished her sister. "I'm sure whatever it is, you don't need to be so…"

"Yes I do! Because unlike you, I actually have a FUCKING CLUE what's going on!" Lupa did not back down in the slightest, her voice actually raising despite her surroundings. "So why don't you just goddamn listen and turn on…"

"Alright, just keep your voice down!" Lyra shushed her sister again, as their little spat was starting to draw eyes from around the library, including from the librarians. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, muttering to Lupa as she did so, "Honestly, I can't see what…"

The moment Lyra's phone was on, it started buzzing wildly. Fortunately, Lyra had the ringer off, so it was just vibrating in her hand.

"Lina?" Lyra's eyebrow arched as she looked at the caller ID before glancing to Lupa. "Why is she…"

"Hey, wanna know a FASTER way of finding out other than asking me?" Lupa immediately cut her sister off. "ANSWER IT."

Lyra rolled her eyes. Admittedly, she walked into that one. She tapped her phone and put it to her ear, saying, "Hello, this is Lyra Loud, how can I..."

"LYRA! Oh, thank goodness I finally got through to you!" A chipper voice on the other line, one that clearly did not belong to Lina Sharp, came through the line before Lyra could finish her opening spiel. "I tried calling a few times, then Lina tried, then I tried again, then we called Lupa, and she picked up, and then I called her again to make sure she was…"

"Whoa, whoa…Gloom? Slow down for a second." Lyra had to pull the phone away from her ear for a moment as Gloom's voice blasted through. "What exactly is…"

"…and THEN I tried calling again, but Lupa was being all mean, you know how she gets sometimes, but I didn't let that bother me and talked a little more, but then she hung up, so I had to call again…" Gloom continued to ramble away, undeterred.

Lyra sighed, pulled the phone away from her ear again, then glanced at Lupa and asked, "That 'bull' you mentioned…would this be it?"

"She called me seven times." Lupa grumbled as she grabbed the chair Lyra had been in and slumped down in it. "Seven. In a five-minute walk."

"Mmhmm." Lyra nodded. "All right, I suppose I can overlook the cussing this time. It was deserved."

"…and then she hung up for the THIRD time, and I thought well, this isn't really doing anything, so maybe it would be better to try calling you again, and then you picked up!" Gloom finally finished her spiel, taking a breath at last. "I'm so glad you're finally available, because we could really use your help, Lyra!"

"Yes, of course Gloom…but first, let me ask you something." Lyra finally brought the phone back to her ear. "You mentioned Lina…is she there with you?"

"Oh…yep!" The cheerful reply came back. "She's right here with me right now. She handed me her phone while we were running, so that's why I…"

"Great, great…so, could you please…" The tone of Lyra's voice shifted to a commanding one as she continued, "…PLEASE put Lina on the phone?"

"Sure! Of course, Lyra," was the sweet reply, oblivious to her sister's menacing tone. "One sec!"

A moment of muffled voices and noises came from the other line, until finally a new voice came through. "Hey Boss. First off, sorry about that, I was a little busy and…"

"No worries, Lina. But let's learn from that and make a rule to NEVER give Gloom the phone during an emergency again, okay?" Lyra answered. "Now, could you please explain what's going on?"

"Right…well, the short of it is Lemy's in trouble," was the reply from Lina.

"Hah…of course." Lyra sighed. "Which is different from other days how?"

"Because most other days, he isn't getting chased by a giant Russian chick who can hoist him up with one hand," said Lina. "A giant Russian chick who was asking about DAD, I should add."

Lyra's eyebrow arched. Before she replied, she pulled the phone away, glanced back over to Lupa, and asked, "A giant…Russian chick?"

"Hey, don't look at me. I had nothing to do with this one." Lupa replied with a shrug. "You want answers, you've got the girl with 'em on the phone right now."

Lyra nodded, bringing the phone back to her ear. "Okay, Lina…I'm gonna need you to start at the top. Tell me everything."

Lyra listened quietly while Lina explained the whole story. The girls still at the table exchanged nervous looks until Liby finally looked over to Lupa and asked, "Hey, what's going…"

"Nope. I'm done with it." Lupa threw her hands behind her head. "For once, I'm deciding not to mess with this beehive. I've passed it on to the boss, so my job? Done."

Liby frowned, but she knew the futility of trying to pull something out of Lupa when she got like this. Fortunately, she wouldn't have to wait long, as Lyra picked back up in the conversation on the phone. "Okay, I think I have an idea. What we need to do is get Lemy somewhere we can help him. Lina, is there any chance you can let him know where to go?"

"Uh…maybe?" Lina replied, unsure for a moment. "Yeah, I think I can figure something out."

"Alright. Get Lemy to start heading towards Pages and Pillows," explained Lyra. "I'll meet you guys there."

"…P and P?" Lina was hesitant. "Lyra, you know that Lemy and…"

"Yes, yes, I know. I was actually about to head there anyway to try and resolve that very situation." Lyra smirked a bit. "Think of it as killing two birds with one stone. And making Lemy clean up his own mess."

An audible sigh came from the other side of the line until Lina replied, "Alright, I'll try to send him that way. I'll meet you there when I can."

"Same. Thanks, Lina. Bye." Lyra ended the call and put the phone back in her pocket.

"Is everything alright, Lyra?" Liby asked, still with a worried look.

"Well, it's hard to qualify at the moment. But I think I can figure it out from here." Lyra replied.

"Want us to come with?" Terry asked, pointing to herself and Sonnette. "Bring a little extra muscle and all?"

"No, you guys head to the house for the party. I'll be alright." Lyra turned and starting walking to the door. "Besides, I'll have all the muscle I'll need when I get there."


	6. Chapter 6

"Jeez…" A bemused Z-29 mumbled as she watched Lyra leave the school and make her way into town. She minimized the feed again, having it join the others she had been monitoring, which at this point was nearing double figures. "…this sure was a whole thing, wasn't it?"

The alternate Lulu scanned the feeds for a moment, reviewing each one until she finally muttered, "Well, I guess I should probably check and make sure Lemy made out okay…". A few more taps on the console, and one of the feeds enlarged, projecting an image of Lemy running down an alley…

...

Lemy zipped around the corner, pressing himself against the wall as he listened for any sounds of pursuit. His mad dashing had brought him closer to the center of town, so the sounds of busy traffic and some chatter from passersby on the sidewalk was filtering in. Still, as far as he could tell, he couldn't hear the girl who had been chasing him, so…maybe he was in the clear?

He held his position up against the wall for a moment longer, just in case, but eventually exhaled and leaned back against the wall. He took a few deep breaths as he rested, muttering, "Jeez, that crazy girl was committed. Shit, dad, what'd you do to piss her off so much…?"

The obvious answer popped up in Lemy's head for a second, before he shook it off. "Nah, she's not his type. Unless she's, like, a distant cousin or something. That'd probably get him into her, the horny fuck. Or she could…nah. At least, I don't remember any of Dad's flings who sounded like they hailed from Mother Russia…"

Lemy sighed, pulling his phone out of his pocket to check the time. "Almost 4 already? Shit, that psycho was chasing me for like an hour and a half? Goddamn."

Lemy took another deep breath before standing up straight again. "Better head home. If I don't get back before Lyra, she's gonna absolutely lay into me. Guess I better make sure the girls are okay, too, but since that bitch kept coming after me, I'm guessing they're probably…"

"Oh yes…they are fine. Could not chase both of you, after all."

Before Lemy could look for where this voice came from, an arm slammed against the wall above his head. Lemy let out a deep sigh as he looked up and asked, "Seriously? We're still doing this?"

The Russian girl glared down at him as she walked into his field of vision, her arm up against the wall right above him. "Да, we are. You still have not answered question."

"Uh, no, I answered you. Told you I didn't know anything, and I still don't know anything." Lemy replied with fast talking as he slowly edged away from the girl's arm. "See, I told you before, this is all just one crazy big misunderstanding, and once you take a sec to think about it you'll see…"

"Дурь несусветная! Enough of your lies!" The Russian barked out as she slammed her arm against the wall again for emphasis. "You know, and will tell me: where is Lincoln…"

She leaned forward in an attempt to intimidate Lemy a bit more, but as soon as she did so Lemy moved in response, dropping down and sliding through her legs. As soon as he was through, he darted out towards the street, yelling, "Today is the ONLY day that I'll ever be happy I'm short!"

"Gah…Ублюдок!" The Russian girl tried to grab him, but he was already out of her reach before she could move. She gave a growl as she turned to follow him once again, yelling, "Вернуться сюда!"

The two ran down the street, getting a few cross looks from passersby as they dashed past them. Meanwhile, just a few blocks behind them, a pair of girls poked their heads out from the sign they had been hiding behind as they gauged the situation. After watching the two runners go for a bit, the elegantly-dressed gothic girl turned to her compatriot and asked, "So, what's your plan to tell Lemy where to go, Lina?"

"Yeah, still kinda working on that, Gloom." Lina sighed as she straightened up. "I thought I had one, and then Russian Red over there caught up to Lemy before I could even get close. That girl is determined, I'll give her that."

"So what do we do then, Lina?" Gloom asked with a teary look on her face. "That girl really is threatening to hurt Lemy! We have to hurry and tell him to get to P and P!"

"Yes, Gloom, I know what the situation is, thank you." Lina gently admonished her sister as she rubbed her temples. Gloom was right, of course, but that didn't mean she was being helpful. Lemy was too caught up in his running to notice any of the texts Lina had sent him, so she had to get Lina's instructions to him face to face. Which, of course, meant finding a way around the Russian.

And this was the tricky part: the whole reason Lemy was being chased by her was because he acted as bait so the girls could get away. So if Lina got close to Lemy and, in doing so, drew the Russian's attention onto her, Lemy's work would be wasted. And then he'd be pissed at her. And also she might get chased, cornered and/or beat up by a giant Russian girl, and not even one of those would be in the sexy way. So, whatever she did to alert Lemy of the plan, she had to do so in a way that would avoid the Russian changing her target.

Now then, with all that in consideration, how was she gonna…

"Oh! Hi, Kimmy!" Gloom broke up Lina's thought process by suddenly calling out to someone.

Lina glanced up, and saw Gloom waving to a girl on the street with light brown skin and very poofy hair. The girl glanced back at Gloom before smiling and waving back, saying, "Hi Gloom! What are you doing out here?"

"I'm on a mission!" Gloom replied nonchalantly. "I'm trying to save my cousin from a big scary girl!"

"Oh, that sounds cool! I'm on a mission too!" The other girl kept up the conversation like they were discussing the weather. "I'm supposed to track someone down!"

"Do you need any help?" Asked Gloom. "Maybe we could help you find…"

"Gloom. Gloooooom. We're focusing now, right?" Lina rolled her eyes as she glanced at her sister. "And who is this little spy you're sharing mission info with?"

"Oh, this is Kimberly! She's in my class for math and social studies." Gloom's cheerfulness didn't miss a beat as she introduced the other girl.

"Yeah, we're in a group together in math class." Kimberly had a similarly cheerful look on her face as she walked over to Gloom. "Ms. Walker said we might learn better if we helped each other out as math buds!"

And with that, Gloom and Kimberly clapped their hands, did a high five, bumped their hips together, and gave a v for victory as they called out, "Math Buds!", in a routine that had clearly been rehearsed more than a few times.

There were a few thoughts going through Lina's head here. The first being, "Oh god, there's two of them." The second, "Wait, Gloom's terrible at math, so if they're grouped together…" Following that, "That hip bump was kinda sexy, but then also very cute and innocent, which actually kind of spins it around the whole way and makes it INCREDIBLY sexy." And after that…

"Wait up…Kimberly, right?" Lina asked the newcomer. "You said you were asked to track down a boy? Who asked you to do that?"

"Oh, you mean Miss Leia?" Kimberly immediately outed the name of her employer(?) without a thought. "She's the leader of my scout group. She asked me if I could find a cousin of hers. Oh, hey Gloom, maybe he's your cousin too?"

"Yes, he is, and he's my cousin as well. I'm the one who asked Leia to help me find him, so I'm betting we have the same mission." Lina rubbed her temples again, now that she knew how much a 'favor' from Leia would actually get her. Still, at least it was something. "So, Kimberly, tell me, what exactly did Leia ask you to do?"

"She asked me…hang on, let me think." Kimberly rubbed her chin as she wracked her brain for a moment. "She told me to find out where her cousin…Limey? I had to find out where he is. But…she also said not to get too close, because he was…in trouble? And then I had to call Leia back once I found him, and…I think that was it."

"Right. Got it." Yeah, Lina was gonna have to have a chat with Leia about the meaning of the word "help" when this was all said and done. "So, Kimberly, do you have any skills we can work with? Karate? Espionage? Anything like that?"

"Um…I can run pretty fast?" Kimberly shrugged. "I don't really have cool skills like Miss Gwen and Miss Marsha…"

"Running, huh. Okay, I think I can work with that." Lina mumbled under her breath as a plan started coming together in her mind. Nodding to herself, she grabbed Gloom and Kimberly by the hands and started pulling them down the street, in the direction Lemy and the Russian had just taken off. "Alright girls, let's go save our boy!"

...

Their boy, further on up the road, was finally nearing the end of his endurance. Lemy wasn't a sprinter, a cross-country athlete, or really a runner of any kind. He was just a really stubborn kid, and that stubbornness had allowed him to ignore the exhaustion in his legs for a while now, but even that was wearing thin. It was closing time at the Last Chance Saloon, and he had to find a way to get this chick off his trail now, before his legs gave out.

He turned a corner, blocking the girl from his sight, and saw an alley before the next turn. Instinctively, he ducked into the alley, pressed himself against the wall again, and did everything to silence his heavy breathing and keep himself dead quiet. He listened for the girl, hearing her dash past the alley before turning the corner, going down the street on the other side of the buildings.

Lemy stayed quiet for another moment, just to be sure, before exhaling and trying to get the air back into his lungs. "Dammit...well, guess I'm…getting my return on those…trainings with Aunt Lynn…today."

He sucked wind for about a minute, slumping to the ground as he got off his aching feet. Absentmindedly, he checked his phone for the time again. Quarter past 4. Yeah, he was getting chewed the hell out today, no doubt about that. Didn't even care at this point. He had an alibi and two witnesses who could back him up. Lyra was a bitch, but not a total asshole. Sure, she'd question the hell out of him with his "I was being chased by a giant Russian" tale, but he could…

"Found you, маленький кролик."

Goddammit, he took his eye off the ball again.

Sighing, he glanced up at the Russian, who was glaring down at him, barely looking like she had broken a sweat. His breathing still labored, he managed to grumble out, "How did…"

Before he could get the rest of the sentence out, the Russian motioned behind her, to the other end of the alley, which was…not as far as Lemy would have liked.

"…just came around…the other side, huh…" Lemy managed to get those few words out as he shook his head. This one was on him, thinking that she'd blast past him and not think to double back. He started staggering to his feet, muttering, "Alright, so what do we…"

He immediately tried to dash out of the alley, but this time his legs weren't fast enough. The Russian grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and effortlessly lifted him off the ground. His legs kicked in the air, in hopes that maybe he could shake loose, but she crushed that in an instance by shoving him up against the wall, leaning in close and growling, "No more games now. Tell me, where is the man known as Lincoln Loud?"

"Guh…" A grimace curled across Lemy's face as he struggled against her grip. "Keep telling you…I don't…"

"Enough pretending. You know him." The Russian shook Lemy pressing him tighter against the wall. "Now answer! Where is Lincoln Loud?"

"Mrgh…gah…" Lemy's continuing struggles were proving useless, as he was barely straining her grip, and he was too tired to try a counter attack. Finally, he managed to mutter, "What the hell…is the deal with…you and him…?"

"He has shamed my family. My mother. And he will pay for this." The Russian's stare was cold as her eyes bored into Lemy. "Where. Is. He? Tell me, or I will…"

"Iiiiiincoming! Move move move move MOOOOVE!"

A sudden shout from the end of the alley, the one the Russian had tracked Lemy down from, drew her attention from her captive. Coming in from the street were two girls on a skateboard, the one in front, with the blue stripe in her hair, was holding two backpacks in front of her like a shield as she kicked at the ground to pick up speed. The other one, wearing an insane gothic getup of some kind, was hugging the shield-bearer's back tightly as she held on for dear life.

"What is…черт!" The Russian girl shouted as the skateboarding duo speeded in towards her location. The alley was too small for her to maneuver out of the way…at least, if she was to keep Lemy in her grip. But without any time to consider a better course of action, she released the boy from her grip and pushed herself against the opposite wall, managing to avoid the battering skateboard-ram as Lemy fell to the ground with a thud.

And in the brief instance between her letting Lemy go and the girls whizzing by, a hand reached out from around the near corner, grabbed Lemy, and pulled him up off the ground and out of the alley.

The events were all bewilderingly fast, and the Russian was left dumbfounded for a moment until she gathered herself, rushing out of the alley to assess the situation. The skateboarding duo, which she was now realizing were the two girls who had been with Lemy at the school, had turned the corner and were now skating down the street at a fairly rapid clip. In the opposite direction, Lemy was being pulled away from the scene by a new girl the Russian hadn't seen before, with darker skin and wearing a neat uniform.

The Russian wasted a moment looking back and forth at the two groups, unsure of who to pursue, before finally gritting her teeth and going after Lemy once more.

...

"She's looking…wait…yep, she's going after Lemy again!" Gloom was glancing back at the Russian and reporting to the mastermind of her scheme. "It worked, Lina!"

"Alright, yeah!" Lina gave a celebratory cheer. "Okay then, we're gonna head straight to P and P to meet with the Boss and wait for Lemy there!"

"Are you sure he'll be ok?" Gloom pressed up closer to Lina. "Shouldn't we follow him some more?"

"If we get too close, the Russian'll come for us. And she won't fall for this trick again." Lina replied, doing her best to ignore the great feeling of Gloom's boobs pressing against her back until the situation was resolved. "We'll have to trust Lemy to get there safe!"

...

"What is…who are you…supposed to be?" Lemy shouted in between breaths at the girl pulling him by the arm.

"Oh, hi Lemy! My name's Kimberly! I'm in the same scout troop as your cousin Leia!" Kimberly replied, her voice showing no exhaustion despite how they were dashing down the road. "I think we met a while back, at the last scout meeting, but I didn't introduce myself to you back then, but anyway, it's nice to meet you again!"

"What…you're with Leia?" This answer only begged further questions, but Lemy pushed most of those out of his mind so he could stay on topic. "Where are you taking me?"

"Just away from that big redhead girl!" Kimberly replied quickly enough. "Leia told me not to get too close, so Lina just had me get you away from her for a minute to…oh, right! I'm supposed to tell you to go somewhere so you'll be safe from her!"

"Really?" Lemy shot Kimberly an unsure look. "And where the hell is that supposed to be?"

"Some place called…hang on, I'm trying to remember. Lina said you'd know it…" Kimberly's pace didn't slow for a second as the little hamster wheel in her brain slowly spun. "I think it was Pages and…something else with P…"

"…Pillows?" Lemy filled in the blank with the only possible answer. "She wants me to go to Pages and Pillows?! Are you for real right now?"

"Oh, yeah, that's the one!" Kimberly nodded, apparently missing the fear in Lemy's voice. "Apparently your sister told you she can help you out if you go there!"

"My sister…?" That left quite a few options, but considering Lemy didn't recognize this girl, he was guessing she wasn't "in the know" yet. Which meant, to her, he only had one sister. These were Lyra's instructions.

"Okay Lemy, I need to go report back to Leia now!" Kimberly called back to Lemy, breaking his train of thought. "I'll see you later! Bye!"

Before Lemy could muster a reply, Kimberly had let go of his arm and started accelerating, blazing past the feeble pace Lemy could keep with his tired legs. She quickly darted down he road, turned the corner, and bam, she was gone.

Lemy kept running on instinct, the memory of being hoisted up still fresh in his mind. He glanced behind him, and sure enough, there was the redheaded terminator, keeping pace with him and chasing him down once again.

Welp. He was probably dying today then. At least now he had some options so he could pick how he wanted to die.

His tired legs kept his mind on running, as that rest he had in the alley—before getting hoisted up—was enough to let him get going again, but it wasn't going to last long. He had to make a call.

Lemy looked around to get his bearings. North Street…getting close to the turn to Packard. Pages and Pillows wasn't too far from here. His legs could make it. If that was where he wanted to die, instead of wherever the Russian caught him.

Goddammit Lyra…now? Really, of all times, she was gonna play him this way now?

"Ahhhgh…fuck it!" Lemy turned the corner, now heading down Packard Street, towards his new destination. As always, the Russian hounded after him, rounding the corner as she continued in hot pursuit.


	7. Chapter 7

Back at the monitor, Z-29 watched with rapt attention as things seemed to be moving towards a climax. Multiple groups were now converging on a single spot. Lemy was on his way, with the Russian in pursuit. Lyra was headed that way, as were Lina and Gloom. And, at the same time, so was…

Huh. How'd that group get together? Must have happened while Lemy was getting throttled.

Hmmm…why not see what was going on over there? One last detour before the big show. A tap of the console rewound time a bit and focused on the park by Leia's elementary school, as two feeds converged, one group already being in attendance, with the other arriving…

...

"So…she's ok, right homies?"

"She'll be fine." Marsha fanned the still K.O.'d Leia with the paper fan she had pulled out of her bag, as the younger girl rested on her lap. She and Vikki were sitting on the bench near the table they had just been at, so that Leia could lie down until she recovered. "Just a bit over-stimulated."

"Man, that shit was cray. Kid just fainted outta nowhere." Vikki watched the younger girl sleep, the mellow look on her face unabated. "Wonder what spooked her?"

"She said, oblivious." Gwen muttered under her breath as she wrung out a towel, which she had just soaked in the water fountain, before placing it on her tiny boss's forehead.

"Hmm? Whatchu mean, girl?" Vikki gave Gwen a quizzical glance.

Gwen returned the look with a withering glare, but as Vikki was completely unmoved, eventually just sighed and grumbled, "Nothing, nothing…"

Vikki just shrugged before going back to watching Leia snooze. With a sigh, Gwen looked up at her partner and muttered under her breath, "Hey, Marsh. Since she's, y'know, technically 'family', you think we're gonna have to go all nice guy with her, or…"

"I'd assume she'll be one of the special cases like Lemy." Marsha replied as her fanning continued without pause. "Still, we should probably wait until we hear it out of Leia's mouth, just in case."

"Right, right. I hear ya." Gwen sighed as she took a seat to Leia's left. "Well, it's hard to tell with these 'surprise' siblings of Leia's, so waitin' until we get her say-so to mess with her isn't the worst idea. Still…reeeeeaally wanna give this slut some payback for making my shit look weak earlier, y'know?"

"I hear you." Marsha nodded casually at the violent intent coming off her partner in waves. "You'll just have to keep you powder dry for a bit longer. At least until Leia wakes up, or the two kids we're looking for get…"

"THERE you are, Vikki!"

Gwen and Marsha looked up, as new arrivals had shown up at the playground. A pair of twins led the way, kids that were familiar to Marsha, as she had been passing around their photo to her information network. The searched-for Reina and BJ Santiago had arrived, the brother staying a step or two behind his sister as she stomped towards their platinum-haired associate.

"Ah, theeeere you guys are." Vikki's smile widened a bit as she turned towards Reina's voice. "Was wondering where you got off t-gaaagh."

As Vikki was mid-sentence, Reina had walked right up to where she was sitting, grabbed her cheeks and started pulling them with all her might, which, considering her size, probably wasn't the strongest pinch in the world, but, more than likely, got the point across. She yelled, "And just WHAT were you THINKING? I turn my head for one second and you up and disappear! YOU'RE supposed to be the one watching out for us, right?"

"Das…Das righd…" Vikki replied in spite of the pinching. "Ah waz…fo'owin' you, buh…"

"Huuuh? What was that?" Reina kept pulling at Vikki's cheeks as she leaned in further. "You were following us, were you? That can't be right, because if you WERE following us, you wouldn't have disappeared like five minutes after we got off the bus, now would you?"

"Meh…mehbbe nod…" It was getting harder to make out intelligible parts of Vikki's speech, as her little sister kept pinching away.

"R-Reina, I can't…" Bobby tugged at his twin's arm gently as he tried to join the conversation. "I mean, if you keep doing that, Vikki can't answer…"

Reina glanced at Bobby, then fixed her gaze back on Vikki for another moment before relaxing her iron grip…not RELEASING it, but easing up on the pull…before she asked, "So? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Wehh…you shee…" Vikki's speech was still a bit obstructed as she answered, "I was fo'owing you whe' we got off the bush…but I, uh, shaw this aweshome little bakery, and got a whiff of shome incredible cookiesh, and I kinda…drifted towardsh it."

Reina's stare bored into Vikki. "…you took your eye off your 9-year-old cousins in an unfamiliar town because...you smelled some cookies?"

As usual, the obvious ill-intent pouring out of the person in front of her completely went over Vikki's head. Instead, she nodded, only slightly, as she was still impeded by Reina's pinchers, before saying, "Uh huh, and they were damn good too, buh then I noticed thad you and Bobby didn't fo'ow me, even though I thod I tod you I wash ow ow ow owwwww, Reeeiinaaaa shtoooop…"

Apparently, Reina had heard enough to pass judgment, as she was now pulling on Vikki's cheeks at full strength once again, this time fully ignoring both her and Bobby's pleas for leniency.

A couple feet away, Gwen and Marsha watched the whole spectacle in near silence, until Gwen leaned over to her partner and whispered, "Starting to like this new girl. I dunno why, just something about her style."

"Heh." Marsha chuckled back, as a sly smile curled across Gwen's face. "Can't imagine why. Certainly can't be the way she's stretching the hell out of that idiot's face.

"You know, hadn't been thinking of it, but yeah, I guess that's pretty cool." Gwen followed up Marsha's sarcasm with a bit of her own. Before she and her compatriot could continue their snark-off, however, Gwen noticed there was another pair of familiar faces who had arrived at the park, and pointed them out to Marsha, saying, "Hey, what do you think those two are doing here?"

"Mmm?" Marsha glanced to the edge of the park and saw who Gwen meant. Standing there were Lyle and Marla, shaking their heads at the scene the twins were enacting in public. "Ah…those two? That is odd…I had spoken with Lupa, so I had assumed she would be leading the twins here, if not just pointing them to us and leaving their fates in our hands. Don't know how those two might have gotten roped into this…"

"Might as well just ask, instead of tryin' to guess." Gwen cut to the chase, raising her arm and waving over to Lyle and Marla as she called out, "Hey, you two! You planning on joining us, or are you just gonna gawk at us like a couple of creeps?"

That quickly got the others' attention. Marla fixed a glare on Gwen, looking like she might snap back at her, but Lyle stepped forward before she could, a smile on his face as he replied diplomatically, "Sorry, we were just a bit thrown by that little scene. I was expecting more of a heartfelt reunion and a little less in the way of recriminations."

"Yeah, I get where you're coming from. On the other hand, having dealt with that little pain in the ass for about twenty minutes, I can totally understand the kid's reaction." Gwen smirked, glancing over to soak in a bit more of Vikki's distress, before she turned back to the approaching pair. "So, how'd you two get roped into this horseshit?"

"Bad luck, unfortunately." Lyle shrugged as he walked over to where Gwen and Marsha were sitting. "We were with Lupa…or, rather, being accosted by Lupa…when your call came in, and…."

"She bailed on us and told us to bring the kids to you." Marla, who was trailing about a step behind Lyle, finished his thought.

"That. Right." Lyle pointed back towards Marla, his comic timing on point. "She said she was going to get the boss and it was her problem now, which I'm going to assume is code for her trying to foist the rest of whatever is going on over to Lyra."

"Sounds about right." Marsha nodded. "That tends to be Lupa's modus operandi when presented with something mildly troublesome: try to wriggle out of it. Not to say that isn't the proper course of action for this situation, but still."

"That doesn't shock me in the slightest, really." A wry smile flashed on Lyle's face for a moment. He then glanced down at the still-out-cold Leia and asked her handlers, "What happened to your fearless leader there?"

"Overstimulated, is all." Marsha replied as she glanced down at Leia, still fanning the sleeping girl.

"Yeah, by how much she wants to kill Blondie McStonerTits over there." Gwen followed up Marsha with the blunt truth. "And trust me, I'm right there with her, but annoyingly…seriously, it is just so FUCKING annoying…that's probably not gonna happen."

"Well, that's truly a tragedy that Leia won't be able to commit murder quite yet," Lyle deadpanned. "Anyway, based on what we gathered from the twins on the way here, am I safe in assuming that the twins' relation to this 'sister' of theirs is through their father…"

"Oh, you already know the story. Speeds things up then." Gwen chuckled as she glanced back at Marla. "Hey Marl, guess who's got more siblings? Surprise! It's you. Again."

"Yeah, I know. Fuckin' record time, amirite?" Marla's mocking tone belied the clear venom in her voice as she grabbed Lyle's shirt by the shoulder and pulled him over, pointing at him as she continued, "Barely had time to get used to this guy yet."

"Mmhmm. And I've gotten to experience being shocked by yet more of Lincoln Loud's spawn so soon after BEING the shocking spawn to appear. Pretty quick turnaround for this guy." Lyle pointed to himself, ignoring the fact that he was still in Marla's grasp for a moment before he glanced over to her and muttered, "Also, any chance of you letting me go soon…?"

"Right, right." Marla released Lyle before she continued, "Anyway, yeah, that's the hell that MY life is today. Made even worse by the fact that I'm probably in too deep already, so if I tried to slink off and leave Lyle alone to deal with it, I'll probably catch shit later from Lupa, or Lyra, or, god forbid, Dad. So, yeah."

"Sounds rough. Well, I'd love to say it'll get better for you here, but now you're gonna have to deal with that idiot." Gwen chuckled dryly as she motioned her head towards Vikki, who had finally been released from Reina's grasp and was now getting back to her feet younger girl continued to scold her. "So, have fun with that, because damn, am I glad she's off my plate."

"Gonna be honest, she doesn't seem to be that much trouble…", muttered Lyle as he glanced over towards Vikki and the twins.

"She doesn't, does she? Well, get that idea out of your head because bitch is trouble with a capital Fuck Off." Gwen spat some more venom as she also looked over to said trouble girl. "I swear, if I could get my hands on her without her limbo-ing the fuck away every time, she wouldn't have lasted long enough for the twins to bitch her out."

"Uh huh…really…" Lyle mumbled, sounding rather uninterested in Gwen's urge to kill.

"Or, well, for the girl to, in any case. Poor boy looks like he's watching his two pet dogs fighting and can't decide what to do." Gwen glanced over and chuckled at Bobby's plight as he tried to calm his still-partially raging twin. "Kid's gonna have to toughen up if he's stuck with those two as siblings, right?"

"Uh huh…sure…"

Something about Lyle's response seemed odd to Gwen. She glanced up at him and asked, "'Sure', what? What are you…"

However, as she looked up, she (along with Marsha and Marla, who had noticed his odd replies a bit earlier than Gwen) realized that Lyle's thoughts were elsewhere. Specifically, Lyle's thoughts were probably focused on Vikki, considering his eyes were locked on her. And there was something…off about the look on his face, too. He was oddly focused on…something about her. Gwen and Marsha couldn't quite place it, exchanging a glance as Gwen shrugged her shoulders.

Marla, however, recognized it fairly quickly. The look on her face soured instantly as she grabbed Lyle by the collar again, but significantly less playfully this time, as she growled, "The fuck do you think you're doing right now?"

"Me?" Lyle's voice remained calm, as though he had barely noticed the situation he was currently in, while his eyes remained fixed on the platinum blonde girl a few yards away. "I'm assessing the situation. Analyzing, if you will. Taking in the full scope of…"

"You're fucking eye-raping this chick, ya horny fuck." Marla cut off Lyle's bullshit as she shook him lightly. "That's the same look you have when you start drooling over Gloom with Lina. So cut the crap."

"Ah…I see. Looks like the poker face needs more work." Lyle nodded as he made that mental note. "Still, what would you have me do? Am I not supposed to appreciate what art is set before me? Were I at the Louvre, would you criticize me for being moved by the Mona Lisa's smile?"

"There is so much fucked up there I don't even know where to start." Marla was unable to keep the look of disgust off her face, assuming she was even making the attempt to do so. "For starters, how about you just stop ogling girls in public, ya frigging weirdo. And after that…"

Marla continued to squawk at Lyle, who returned his gaze to Vikki, somehow ignoring his half-sister. Gwen watched them for a bit longer before turning her gaze back to her partner in crime and muttered, "Not gonna lie, after today I'mma need at least a week without dealing with any non-Leia Louds. This has been enough fuckery to last me a while."

"Not disagreeing with you there." Marsha dryly nodded, before she glanced over at Vikki and made a mental note to add that nugget of information about his tastes to her Lyle file later. The secret one she started making based on her observations of the then-newest Loud, in contradiction to their earlier agreement. She figured Lyle was expecting her to break that agreement anyway, so why bother with the pretense.

"Mmm…uuuhh…"

Sounds of stirring snapped their attention back to their little boss, who did indeed seem to be pulling herself out of her shock-induced slumber. Leia squirmed in Marsha's lap for a moment, before her eyes slowly fluttered open. Gwen scooched closer and asked, "Ah, hey Leia. You feeling a little better?"

"Mmph…" Leia groaned as she slowly pushed her body up into a seated position with aid from Marsha, then glanced around at her immediate surroundings as she did so before sighing, "You're both here…and this is still the park. So…that wasn't an awful nightmare, was it?"

"I'm afraid not, Leia." Marsha smirked a bit as she took the still-slightly-damp towel off Leia's forehead. "If it will make you feel better, that girl was in pain for the last few minutes."

"Ah…that does cheer me up a bit, I suppose." A soft smile appeared on Leia's face for a moment. "Were you two the cause…?"

"Nah…figured we'd wait for your go-ahead on that," replied Gwen. "Fortunately, the two kids she was looking for took care of it for us. Or, well, the girl did, anyway. Dunno if the boy's done anything beyond whimper."

"The kids…ah, right. You found them, then?" Leia looked back at Marsha.

"We got a lucky tip right away. They got her a couple minutes ago." Marsha pointed to where the Santiago twins were standing, Reina still barking at Vikki, who had a slight look of penance on her face. "Full disclosure, however…that tip came from Lupa."

"Ugh…that's annoying. Well, not like she expects to get anything back from us in any case, so worst-case scenario is that I'll hear about it from her later." Leia studied the trio for a moment before the sight of Marla and Lyle standing nearby caught her eye. "And they're here because…?"

"They brought the twins. Lupa was with 'em and got 'em to bring the kids over," Gwen explained. "Dunno where she went after, but Lyle thinks she might have gone to get Lyra in on the situation."

"Ugh…great. I'm sure we'll be hearing from Lyra sooner rather than later." Leia sighed again, before glancing back at Lyle and Marla's…animated discussion. She looked at her lackeys and asked, "And what are they arguing about?"

"Ah, he was just being arrested for hor…ah, I mean, ahem…" Gwen started answering absentmindedly before realizing what she was saying in front of Leia when Marsha shot her a sharp look. "He was just…being a dumb boy, is all."

"Really…? Well, it is Marla, so it's not like she needs a reason to start getting argumentative." Leia accepted Gwen's half-answer easily enough. "In any case, I think I've rested long enough…Marsha?"

"Mmhm." Marsha nodded as she stood up, taking Leia's hand and helping the younger girl up as well.

"Thanks…woo, still a little groggy. I can deal, though." Leia shook off some cobwebs as she collected herself. Once she felt back into form, she clapped her hands together and called out, "Okay, everyone, sorry for making you wait for me. We can get this show on the road now."

"Hah?" Leia's declaration caught the attention of both groups in her vicinity, though Reina was the only one to reply. "What show…also, who are you, anyway?"

"Ah, of course. Where are my manners?" Leia turned to where the Santiagos and Vikki were standing and did her well-practiced curtsey. "Leia Loud. Charmed to meet your acquaintance. I've had the…pleasure…of working with your sister Vikki here to help locate the two of you."

"Working with…oh, right." Reina nodded and walked over to Leia's group, dragging Vikki along with her, with Bobby following not far behind. Once they were close enough, Reina bowed her head slightly, saying, "Sorry for the trouble…and for, y'know. Vikki. C'mon, Vik, you apologize too."

Reina tugged on Vikki's shirt, which caught her attention. The old girl shrugged and said, "Kay…uh, sorry for the trouble, homies. And hey, thanks for the hand in findin' these little guys."

"Mmhmm. Of course." Leia could barely find the energy to pithily dismiss Vikki before she turned her attention back to Reina. "So, Miss Vikki here had mentioned a little bit about you two, but not too much…would you mind enlightening us?"

"Huh? Uh, okay…" Reina shrugged. "My name's Reina Santiago, and this is my little brother Bobby Junior. We're from Chicago, and this is our first time in town, but, as you saw, we got a little separated from our sister Vikki when we got here. And, uh…that's kinda it?"

"Uh huh, I see." Leia nodded, putting on a show of pretending to care about the twins' situation. "Well, we're glad that we were able to reunite you and your sister. What brought you three all the way out to Royal Woods today?"

"I mean, it's kinda this whole thing. And a little personal too, but…see, our dad apparently lives in this town, and…" Reina stumbled over her words as she searched for the right way to say what she wanted to.

"Don't worry, you can take your time." Leia's face brightened as she reassured Reina. "And if it's something you'd really rather not say, I'm alright with that."

A few steps away, Lyle, still in Marla's grasp but no longer being threatened and harangued, mumbled under his breath so only his captor could hear him say, "Please tell me you find this sickeningly sympathetic version of Leia as unseemly as I do."

"You don't even know the fucking half of it." Marla's hushed tone matched Lyle's. "This play-nice bullshit is just the setup before she starts sizing up the best way to knife 'em. Maybe if they're lucky she'll just try to make 'em lackeys instead."

Blissfully unaware of this conversation, Bobby Santiago was the one who perked up next, saying, "Um…s-sorry, Reina, I just wanted to ask something. You said your name was Leia Loud, r-right?"

"That's right," confirmed Leia. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"Oh, nono, I-I didn't mean…" Bobby apologized again out of reflex. "It's just…our dad, his name is Lincoln Loud, so…a-and Lyle already told us that he's…kind of our brother, so…u-um…"

"He did, did he…?" Leia rolled her eyes as she looked over to Lyle. "Was it really necessary to start complicating matters for these two so early, Lyle?"

"Oh, it very much wasn't. Sadly, Lupa started slinging around the terms 'brother' and 'sister' rather willy-nilly, so I had to do a bit of damage control." Lyle replied quite matter-of-factly for a boy being held up by the scruff of his neck. "I'm afraid all complaints will need to be directed to her department."

"Of course. Why am I not surprised?" A sigh slipped out of Leia's mouth before she put the happy face back on for the twins. "Well, to answer the question I'm sure you're thinking of, yes, I am related to your dad. I'd…rather not say HOW at the moment, but…"

"Wait, why not?" Reina's eyebrow cocked as she cut Leia off. "You guys have all been super sketch about something that's going on with our dad, and I'm getting kinda tired of it. Can't you just tell us straight-up what's going on?"

"Ah…that's a difficult subject, but…" Leia trailed off, looking unsure of what to say for the first time in a while, but before she was able to scrape together an answer, music started wafting through the air, coming from her pocket – a slow, haunting trumpet line. Leia's hand went to her pocket swiftly, as she apologized, "Oh, sorry about that…ah, I actually have to take this quick. Would you mind waiting just one second?"

Reina glowered at her, before sighing, "Fine, just…make it quick. I really want an answer."

"Of course, thanks for your patience." Leia opened the phone, cutting off the music as the trumpet was fading into a string group. "Hi, Kimberly, how is your assignment going?"

"Hi Miss Leia! I'm good!" An excited voice came through the other side, loud enough that Leia had to jerk her head away from the phone. "I just met up with Miss Lina and my friend Gloom and we got the whooole thing taken care of and now I need to tell you…something. It was…uh…"

"Ah…th-thanks, Kimmy." Leia gingerly brought the phone close to her ear again as she replied to Kimberly. "So, what is the current sit…"

"AHHH RIGHT I remember!" Kimberly's shout again blasted through the line once more, as Leia had to again recoil from the phone. "Miss Lina said that you should meet up with her at this place called, uh…Pages and something. I can't remember, but she said you'd know and also that Lemy boy you had me look for is heading there and boy that girl that's chasing him is super mad and following him so it might be a little dangerous but Lina said you have to meet her there because otherwise someone named Lyra will be mad? And…I think that's all!"

Leia eyed the phone warily for a moment, waiting to see if Kimberly was really done or not, before slowly bring it back to her ear and replying, "Well…thank you, Kimmy for that very…full report. So…just to confirm, I'm to go to Pages and Pillows, then?"

"Uhhh…yeah! I think so. Yeah, pretty sure that's what Miss Lina called it. Maybe." Kimberly's response was a bit reined in. Just a bit, though. "Anyway, should I head back to the park now and meet up with you guys, or…"

"Nope, you're all set. You can head on home, Kimberly." Leia answered before Kimberly could finish. "Thanks for all your help today."

"Aye aye, sir!" The cheer…and volume…returned to Kimberly's side of the call. "Then I'll check in with you tomorrow. Bye, Miss Leia!"

"Goodbye, dear." Leia clicked her phone, before letting out a deep sigh of exhaustion. She loved that girl, but was more than aware that just talking to her could be exhausting at times. Turning to Gwen and Marsha, she called out, "I assume you caught most of that?"

"Yeah, and so did people the next two towns over." Gwen chuckled. "Girl can project, I'll give her that."

"She certainly can, though a bit of volume control could go a long way." Leia sighed. "I'm going to need to head over to P&P. Lyra's on the case, and considering the situation, it would probably be wise to at least appear concerned for Lemy's condition. You girls can go home if you'd like."

"What, and miss him getting his shit pushed in? Not a chance." Gwen got up and dusted herself off. Marsha rolled her eyes, looking less excited for that prospect than her running buddy, but apparently decided to join in as well as she got up.

"Hey…hey! Wait a minute!" Reina interjected. "What happened to explaining what's going on with…"

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten, dear." Leia, smiled and motioned for Reina to follow her as she and her clique started walking out of the park. "However, I am needed elsewhere, so we'll have to do a walk-and-talk. That's fine, isn't it?"

"Walk and…augh, fine!" Reina stomped off in pursuit, Bobby and Vikki trailing closely behind her.

Lyle and Marla watched the group start to leave, before the boy said, "That bit with Lemy probably has to do with the whole 'being chased by a giant Russian' routine that Lupa mentioned, doesn't it?"

"Gee, ya think?" Marla's response dripped with sarcasm. "No shit."

"While the possibility still exists that this is all an incredibly elaborate prank by Lupa…and I mean, like, A+ for effort if it is…it would probably be a good idea to follow along and make sure that he's doing okay."

"Yeeep." Marla nodded. "Can't argue with that."

A beat passed before Lyle turned to his half-sister and said, "So, I'm gonna need you to let me go if I'm gonna catch up with them. Any plans on doing that?"

Marla didn't reply right away. She did, in fact, still have Lyle by the scruff of his neck, having declined to relinquish her grip throughout Leia's awakening and taking control of the group in the park. She was now watching said group go, and was apparently debating with herself whether to follow or not.

"Yeah…just to reiterate, I don't know what the hell 'Pages and Pillows' is, other than an absolutely ridiculous name for a place, and I don't know how to get there myself." Lyle continued to make his please-put-me-down case. "Either I need to follow them, or you'll need to tell me or show me. So if you could decide on one of those options…?"

Marla stared at the group, following them with her eyes for a moment longer before she finally looked back at Lyle and said, "Y'know, the longer I stay involved in this shit, the more likely it is I'll have to deal with Lacy today."

"Really now." Lyle's eyes narrowed as his sarcasm now came to fore. "Truly, the devil himself could not have crafted a crueler fate."

Marla clicked her tongue, but didn't reply right away. Another moment passed before she finally let go of Lyle's shirt and started following the group led by Leia. "Just so you know, I'm just going to make sure you don't fuckin' perv out on that trash blondie, alright? That's all."


	8. Chapter 8

The camera zoomed out, following Leia's group out of the park. Like the other groups of Louds (and the Loud-adjacent or acquaintances of Louds), they too began making their way into town, towards their shared destination. One of the video feeds brought the front of the shop into view, with a sign that said, in big, bold letters, "Pages & Pillows" (with the P's conjoined and rendered extra elegant-like).

Z-29 tapped the console once more, bringing this feed to the fore, as the other feeds slowly began converging on its location. And first to arrive at the scene would be…

...

The chime rang as soon as Lyra opened the door, though there was no one manning the store front at the moment. She looked around for a moment as she walked in, before a voice from the back called out, "Sorry, I'll just be a minute!"

With a smirk, Lyra glanced around the store. Empty, as was common. The store was divided into three sections. In front, by the windows, were a few small tables and chairs, set up in a café layout. There used to be a few tables outside the store as well, before the difficulties of managing orders both inside and out made it unreasonable…well, in theory. In practice, the tables were likely removed because they were empty far too often and served as a reminder of the store's struggles.

The second section of the store was filled with bookshelves. The shelves contents were mostly comics, though there were a couple sections of popular novels and non-fictions sprinkled about as well, for some reason. This took up most of the store's floor space, and the outer edge of the bookshelves creeped in on the café area. To the point that one table near the border of the two sections was rather stuck, and anyone trying to sit in those chairs would find the task rather challenging, especially if they were of a slightly heavier build.

Lyra's gaze then went to the final section, the counter. Well, the counter and its…et cetera, really. On the half-wall, facing the customers, a few whiteboards described currently ongoing deals: "Buy 2 comics from the same series, get a 3rd half off!", "Free refills on coffee with purchase of any comics.", and "Lodgers at the motel can rent one comic per night, must be returned at check-out. NOTE: any damaged comics will be considered bought and added to lodger's bill." Behind the counter a few coffee pots, each labeled with a different brew, as well as a large wall of key hooks, holding the keys to the motel rooms on the other side of the building.

These were the common, and often befuddling, sights on tap at Pages and Pillows, Royal Woods premier comic-book store/café/motel hybrid.

"Premier", of course, meaning only. Because who else would think to wade into that space…?

"Alright…sorry for the wait!" The voice from the back called out again, as a young woman wearing glasses and a bandanna came out of the door in the back. "So, how can I help…ah."

Lyra turned to the girl, a smile on her face. "Morning, Panther. How're you today?"

Panther Pain's business smile melted into a look of dissatisfaction. "You again, huh. You ever gonna stop being a pain in my ass?"

"It's worked out okay for the last fifteen years, so why stop now?" Lyra brushed off Panther's hostility. "How's business been?"

"Pfft…don't gimme your sass." Panther grabbed a chair behind the counter and slumped into it. "You know better than to ask questions that have such an obvious and shitty answer."

"Heheh…if you say so." Lyra smirked as she grabbed a chair from the nearest table and dragged it over to the counter.

"Hey, cut that out." Panther growled at Lyra. "Leave the chairs where they're at…'sides, they're for paying…"

"A regular coffee, please." Lyra smoothly pulled out her wallet and pulled out $10, placing it on the counter. "Cream, no sugar. And keep the change."

Panther glared at Lyra for a moment, before clicking her tongue as she grabbed the tenner and muttering, "Comin' up."

The bespectacled girl wordlessly grabbed a cup and made the drink, sliding it over to Lyra when she was done, before sliding back into the chair. Lyra was similarly silent as she picked it up off the counter and took a sip. Silence hung over the store for a beat, before Lyra turned to the girl behind the counter and asked, "So…how's your mom doing?"

Panther sighed as she propped her head up with her arm on the counter. "Couple broken ribs, and a few stiches from a cut on her thigh. Doctor said she might also have a dislocated shoulder, probably."

"Mmhmm." Lyra took the rather rough-sounding prognosis in stride. "Actually not as bad as some of her recent medical reports."

"Keep in mind, this was only because she insisted on playing this weekend despite still having a bum wheel from the ankle she broke last month." Panther let out another sigh. "And the doctor said he couldn't be sure if she dislocated her shoulder this week, or if she had done it previously and popped it back in. A few times. Really, he had no idea what was going on with that shoulder, other than she needed to stop doing whatever it was she'd been doing with it."

Lyra took another sip of her coffee as Panther finished explaining before replying, "See, that's the Aunt Polly we all know and love."

"You know I've counted the number of weeks she hasn't been injured over the last year?" Clearly, Panther was not done grumbling just yet. "Pretty sure she had a solid four weeks in the whole year when she wasn't laid up with something. We had to almost literally chain her to her hospital bed this time to get her to actually rest and not push her luck again."

"Oh, good. Maybe that will do the job." A long sip followed this statement, before Lyra continued, "For a day or two."

A nod was the only reply from Panther, and for the next moment it was quiet between the two of them, with the only sounds being the occasional sips as Lyra drank her coffee. Finally, without looking over, Panther asked Lyra, "What are you doing here?"

With a smirk, Lyra put her coffee down on the counter and picked up her bag, retrieving a few books and papers. "I double-checked with your teachers to make sure Terry actually got the assignments right this time. Don't ask me how good she did. But this should be everything for last week, and your history teacher also included instructions for the essay project your class is working on this week."

Panther glanced over to the tower of schoolwork that Lyra was placing on the counter, heaving a heavy sigh as she looked away. "You're still keeping this up, huh?"

"As long as I need to." Lyra finished emptying her bag of all relevant items as she pulled out a couple pencils and placed them on the counter. "So, you have the work I dropped off last time done?"

"…maybe I wasn't clear enough." Panther was still not looking at Lyra as she spoke. "But you can stop with all this. You and I both know that I'm not making it through high school."

Lyra had a wry smirk on her face as she glanced at her sister, who was still acting quite interested in the far wall. "This from the girl who was in the top three for GPA in freshman year?"

"Sure, back when I was able to go to school more than never a week," replied Panther. "But, since this place is too broke to afford an employee, and since the genius who came up with the idea is always too busted up to run the place, I'm gonna be here for the foreseeable future."

"Which is why it's great that the school is being understanding of your situation, isn't it?" Panther's pessimism was instantly batted away by Lyra. "Besides, it's quiet enough here for you to get work done easily. Speaking of, last time's work is…?"

Another moment passed before Panther, with yet another heavy sigh, reached under the counter and pulled out a neat stack of handouts, writings and packets, passing them over to the waiting Lyra, who grabbed them and filed them away as she said, "Thank you. Okay then, what would you like to start with this week?"

"Look, just…you don't need to waste your time doing this." Panther grumbled again as she turned to the papers and started sifting through them. "It's bad enough you feel like you have to deliver the work every week, I don't want you to feel like you have to tutor me at the same time. I can get through it."

"I told you, it's really not a problem for me." Lyra smiled back at Panther. "Just let me dote on my little sister for a bit here and there, okay?"

"Pfft…like you have enough time in the world to dote on all the little sisters you've got," snarked Panther.

"Maybe not. Though I already helped Terry, Sonnette, and Liby today, so it wouldn't be fair to leave you out." A soft smile curled across Lyra's face. "Besides, you're my first little sister, so you get a little extra doting."

"Heh…alright, don't go getting mushy on me." Panther chuckled back. "Well, might as well get going so you can get out of here. Let's start with math, cause irrational numbers can go suck a chode."

"Thanks for the mental image, Pan." Lyra grabbed the Algebra textbook she had placed on the counter, starting to thumb through the pages. "By the way, before I forget, you remember Lulu's birthday party at the house tonight, right? You're still going to be able to make it?"

"Oh gee, I dunno, it's pretty busy today." Panther gestured at the no customers besides Lyra. "But yeah, I think I'll be able to close up and…"

*BANG*

Before Panther could finish, the store's front door was thrown open, and two girls rushed in, both breathing heavily. Panther and Lyra turned to the familiar looking gothic and skater girls, as Lina managed to get out, "Mi-mission accomplished, Boss."

"Mmhmm. Good work, Lina." Lyra was quite non-plussed by the sudden appearance of Lina and Gloom.

Panther looked over to the newcomers, clearly confused by the situation. "The hell? What mission…?"

"Ah, right." Lyra looked back to Panther and put her hands together. "So, there might be a liiiittle thing I could use your help with, Pan."

Panther's eyes narrowed as she bored into Lyra with her eyes. "You bringing trouble into my store now? For shame. I mean, that's the kind of trouble I'd expect out of Leia, maybe, but not…"

"Aaaand here we are!" The door flung open, and as if summoned by her name like some greater devil, Leia Loud led another group, with faces familiar and new, into the store. "Come on in, don't be shy, there's always plenty of room in here!"

Panther watched as a mini-train of kids walked into the store, including Leia's top lieutenants, a very sour-looking Marla, the new kid who happened to be Panther's other half-brother that she met a couple weeks ago, and a trio that she'd never seen before. She blinked once, before glancing over to Lyra and murmuring, "Wanna start explaining what exactly is going on here?"

"Gonna be honest, I'm as stumped as you on this one." True to her words, Lyra gazed at the new entrants with a perplexed look.

"Hey, Leia!" Lina swept over to her little sister, not looking too pleased with the younger girl. "You got some 'splainin to do, cause if that's how you repay a favor, then…"

"Ahh, Lina, can we put a pin in this?" Leia put her hands up apologetically as she tried to wave Lina off. "I'm actually in the middle of something important with these guests of mine, so maybe…"

"Yeah, 'guests' who are still waiting for an explanation of their own!" The feisty-looking new girl that walked in with Leia piped up. "None of you guys will give me a frigging straight answer to anything, and I'm about fed up with…"

"Hey, not that I'm not down to see Leia get slammed, but…" Panther piped up, her voice raising above the din. "This is a business, and if y'all are just gonna stand around, door's that way! And Leia, whatever it is you're planning, P & P doesn't want any part in it!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Panther, I thought you'd be quite pleased to have some foot traffic for a change." Leia's faux apologies stung with sarcasm. "But you don't need to worry, I'm not planning anything at all! I just thought it would be a nice, quiet place to…"

*SLAM*

All the chattering voices were quieted at once, as the loud sound of Lyra's hand slapping on the counter rose above them all. The older girl shot her withering gaze at Leia, occasionally snapping to any of the others who might look like they were planning on starting up with their arguments again, before she finally scanned the group to decide who she wanted to hear from. "Lina, come here, and…Lyle. You two."

"Er…sure, Boss." Lina looked a bit bashful, like she had been summoned to the principal's office. Lyle, who was one of the only ones in the store who was managing to keep his composure up in the face of demon-Lyra (aside from Vikki, who only had one gear and it was called 'chill, man'), simply nodded and walked over from his position next to Marla.

Lyra turned to Lina first, calmly asking, "Lina, quick question. Is he ok, and how long till he gets here?"

"Yeah, he's fine…well, exhausted, but fine." Lina replied as quickly and manner-of-factly as she could. "From the way he was going, he should just be a minute or so."

"He should...?" Panther tried to interject. "Lyra, who…?"

"You'll know in a minute, Pan." Lyra cut her off, turning her gaze to Lyle. "Now, Lyle. You've been fairly honest in the limited dealings we've had so far, so I feel you could help us out. Could you explain, in as concise a manner possible, what's going on with your party?"

"Of course. Now, granted, I'm not privy to all the goings on, but I think I can hit the one big blinking bullet point. So…" Lyle thought it over for a moment, before motioning Lyra to move closer towards him. She cocked an eyebrow, but dutifully lowered her head to get closer, as did Panther behind the counter and Lina next to them, as Lyle explained, "The three that came in with us…the twins and Mistress Midriff? Yeah, we are about…98% certain that their father is one Lincoln Loud."

Panther had an incredulous look on her face, and Lina too appeared a bit taken aback. Only Lyra remained stone-faced as she quickly followed up. "And we think that because…?"

"The twins brought him up first, without knowing who we are, and called him their dad." Lyle answered without hesitation. "And the girl with the killer abs, according to Leia's associates, has a picture of her parents, and our favorite snowy-haired playboy just so happens to be in it."

"Christ…oh, sorry Lyra." Panther apologized for her commandment-breaking. "But seriously, more secret kids? Again? We literally just met this one! No offense, pretty-boy."

"No, I get it." Lyle let the 'pretty-boy' comment slide, because there were bigger issues at the moment. "That's pretty much what Lupa and Marla were saying as well."

"…Lupa?" Lyra glanced up, scanning the crowd, but coming up empty in her search for white-haired shit-starters. "When was she involved in this?"

"She was with me and Marla when we found the twins, who had been separated from their sister," continued Lyle. "Leia's group had found the blondie. We brought the kids to their sister, Lupa went to find you to, I had assumed, make sure you knew about the situation. But, by your reaction, I'm guessing she left out a few…critical details?"

"…Yes. It would appear that she did." Even Lyra's poker face showed that she was…displeased by the realization Lupa had weaseled her way out of the situation by dumping it on her. "I'll have to have a…chat with Lupa later."

"Hey, not to interrupt your vengeance planning…" Panther cut in, stepping on Lyra's train of thought. "But I'm pretty sure you were about to explain why all this crap is happening here, right? As far as I know, I'm not involved in any of this, and yet everyone seems to have gathered here. So, that explanation is…?"

"I'll be honest, why we're here is lost on me as well." Lyle chimed in a note of agreement. "I know it has something to do with Lemy's situation, but…"

"Wait wait…Lemy?" A sudden scowl crossed Panther's face as she swung her gaze over to Lyra. "What the hell does that…"

*BANG*

The door slammed open again, with all eyes spinning toward the sound. In the doorway, looking significantly worse for wear than Lyle remembered from when he last saw him at school, was Lemy Loud, breathing heavily as he worked his way into the store, heading straight for the counter.

Panther was practically staring a hole through Lemy, but before she could say anything, Lemy had placed his hands on the counter, bowed his head down, and in a weary, exhausted voice, he mumbled "…'m sorry, Pan. Please help me."

Panther was still just staring at Lemy, her expression barely changing. After a moment, she turned to Lyra and said, "Lyra, did you hear something? Coulda sworn I did, but that's weird, because there doesn't seem to be anything here."

"I get it, but…hear him out, Panther," replied Lyra with a sigh.

Panther continued to ignore the boy bowing to her for another moment, before shooting him a glance and muttering, "Pretty shitty of you to only apologize when you need me to bail you out of trouble."

"I know…it is, but…" Lemy trailed off, not sure how to continue, until finally finishing his thought with, "…I know."

Panther was still giving Lemy the cold shoulder. "And what are you sorry for? I wanna hear you say it."

"I'm sorry for…for not bringing those comics back." Lemy immediately answered. "I get it, they're not mine, they belong to the store, and…and I…I shouldn't have taken 'em. I'm sorry."

Panther rapped her finger on the counter. "And you're gonna pay us back by…"

"…don't have any cash, but…I can bring the comics back." Lemy mumbled as he kept his head on the counter. "And if you want me to…work it off, I can come here…however long you need me to. Just…"

Another loud *BANG* interrupted the conversation yet again. This time, standing in the doorway, was a large redheaded girl wearing a fuzzy hat, whose face was a mask of rage as she shouted, "Вот ты где!"

The others gathered in the store backed up, out of the angry newcomer's warpath. Lina and Gloom tried to stay out of her line of sight, too, fading into the nearby bookstacks. The only ones who weren't moving were Panther, still staring down Lemy, and the boy in question, who still had his head on the counter. He stayed in position as the redhead strode straight over for him and reached down to grab him.

Tried to grab him, rather. But her hand was stopped just before she could reach his collar.

Panther finally moved, standing up and grabbing the redhead's hand and jerking it up before she could make contact. The Russian glared at her, but her gaze soon shifted to the grip Panther had on her, as it dawned on her that she couldn't move her hand from where it was being held. Panther didn't bother glancing up at the redhead, instead keeping her gaze on her brother, as she finally spoke again, saying, "…you'll be working here a month. Every day, after school. You complain, you slack, you miss one day, and your ass is mine. Got it?"

"…yeah." Lemy answered, his head sliding as he slumped down, lying back against the counter. "I'll do it…I promise."

"Ok. Now then…" Panther finally flicked her gaze up to the Russian, who was struggling against her grasp. In a swift move, Panther leapt up and over the counter, maintaining wrist control as she did so and effortlessly twisted the Russian's arm behind her own back. "Now that I'm allowing him to be my brother again, I guess I shouldn't let someone else kick his ass. Plus, you're causing a scene in my business to I'm gonna have to ask…you…to leave!"

And with a few jerking movements, Panther spun the Russian around, pushing her towards the door and showing her the way out. Most of the group still inside the store started crowding around the door and windows, watching as Panther pulled the Russian into the eternally-empty parking lot outside. Lyle and Lina, who were still by the counter next to Lyra, leaned over to Lemy to check on him, with Lina asking, "Sorry it took so long, Lem. You doing ok?"

"Yeah, I'll…I'll be ok." Lemy cracked open his eyes for a second to reassure Lina. "Good to know I've got…one sister who cares."

"Oh? And who was the one who figured out how to get you out of yet another bit of trouble, Lemy?" Lyra leaned down, a smirk on her face as she teased her brother. "And I managed to solve your problems with Panther at the same time. Two birds, one stone."

Lemy tried to glare back at Lyra, but clearly couldn't find the energy. Lyle cut in, looking over Lemy and asking, "Well, I guess that answers my question if this whole 'giant Russian girl' story is legit or not…what the heck is this all about, Lemy?"

Lemy glanced over to Lyle, but shook his head before saying, "Too tired…lemme rest a bit. I'll explain…later…"

And without another word, Lemy closed his eyes, the gentle rise and fall of his chest showing him drifting off to sleep. Lyra chuckled, "Welp, I guess he's ok. Now let's make sure Panther doesn't kill this girl."


	9. Chapter 9

Lyra got up and walked over to the shop's door. Leia's trio was huddled around it, watching whatever was going on outside. Lyra shook her head and leaned against the wall next to them, saying, "If you guys wouldn't mind, I'm gonna need to get out there."

"What, and risk missing this? Not even for you, boss lady." Gwen didn't even look back at Lyra as she answered before her fearless leader could. "You know how often I get to see one of Pan's demonstrations? I plan to enjoy this one."

"Oh, please, enjoy away. Just…" Lyra grabbed the handle and opened the door slightly, firmly bopping Gwen's forehead, Marsha and Leia having noticed the ill intent early enough to back up in time. "…maybe do it from the window?"

The door didn't hit Gwen hard enough to actually hurt her, of course, but it sent the message well enough. Gwen gave the older girl a sharp glare, but after Lyra showed little sign of backing down, she clicked her tongue and backed up out of the doorway to join her compatriots near the window.

With that settled, Lyra opened the door and walked out. The dirt parking lot outside Pages and Pillows was a decent size, though it always seemed a bit bigger than it actually was thanks to how empty it always was. Panther had pushed the Russian girl out into the lot, still holding her arm behind her back as the Russian struggled against her iron grip. Lyra leaned back against the wall next to the door and called out, "Hey Pan, try not to break her arm or anything, okay? I really don't want to deal with an ambulance today."

"Har har, good joke, Lyra, thanks sooo much." Panther's reply was dripping with sarcasm as she glanced back at Lyra for a moment. "Ergh…in all seriousness, this is actually kinda hard, she's pretty…"

"Отпусти…меня!" The moment Panther took her focus off her, the Russian twisted her body, just barely managing to wrench her arm out of the grip that Panther had put her in. Before Panther could re-establish a hold on her, the Russian used all her strength to push herself away, putting a couple yards of distance between them.

"Gah…like I was saying, she's pretty strong." Panther had an annoyed look on her face after letting the Russian break free. "Anyways, hey Red! Just walk away, okay? You won't get in any trouble, so just get out of here, and we can all forget…"

"Молчи! Stand aside!" The Russian barked back at Panther. "This is between me and Loud boy! Do not interfere!"

"Uh huh…right." Panther glanced back at Lyra. "Hey Lyra, you heard that, right? I TRIED negotiating and all, and she refused. That good enough for you?"

"Well, in most circumstances, I'd make you give her another chance." Lyra sighed. "But, considering the current situation and all, I suppose it'll do. Just don't go too crazy, alright? I'm not joking about not wanting to deal with ambulances today."

"Roger that." A smirk curled on Panthers face as she bent her knees and put her hands up, taking a stance as she called out to the Russian again, "Last chance, Red. You can walk away now, no harm no foul. But you want at Lem, you gotta go through me."

"You…Я сказал двигаться!" The Russian, apparently taking the latter option, bore down on Panther, swinging her fists toward where she had been standing.

'Had' being the operative word. Panther sidestepped the punches with ease, ducking them as she closed the distance before rising up and hitting a European uppercut square to the redhead's chin.

"Guh!" The Russian stumbled back, stunned by the move. As she did, Panther followed through, lowering her body as she swung out her leg and swept the Russian's legs out from under her. Another yelp came out of the Russian as she tumbled to the ground, landing flat on her back.

"Hey! I just said don't go too crazy, Panther!" Lyra admonished her sister. "Be careful, already!"

"Hey, a big girl like this ain't gonna go down easy, y'know!" Panther snapped back. "Sides, looks like she took it well enough, so she's definitely not hur-"

"GRAH!" The Russian quickly rolled and got back to her feet, charging at Panther with her fists flying.

She, again, caught nothing but air, though, as Panther slipped past her punches and got behind her. Panther wrapped her hands around the Russian's neck, leaping off the ground and using her full weight to pull her opponent backwards and drive her knees into the redhead's back as she landed. The Russian let out a grunt as they landed, but before she could react, Panther used the momentum to push the Russian upwards so she tumbled over and landed on her stomach, maintaining her grip around the neck as she swung her body around, placed her hands under her chin and wrenched her head back.

"D-dammit! What is this…?!" The Russian growled as she thrashed around to no avail as Panther kept her hands locked.

"Backstabber into a Bank Statement…it's a classic combo!" Panther grinned as she held on tight. "Now, are you gonna be a good girl and calm down, or am I gonna really have to cinch it in?"

"Grr…do not…mock me!" The Russian howled as she adjusted body, first trying to roll out of Panther's grip, then, when that failed, getting to a knee and trying to get her feet under her. With another loud growl, she wrapped her arm around Panther's torso and lifted her up as she stood up before flinging the smaller girl off her.

Panther managed to adjust herself in midair before she hit the ground, rolling after landing and quickly getting back to one knee. "Damn…gonna have to keep an eye out for that power. Unless you're seeing sense and ready to stop?"

The Russian didn't say anything in response, simply charging Panther once more. This time, Panther went low, ducking the swings that were coming for her and grabbing the Russian's legs, pulling them out from under her in a double-leg takedown. As the Russian fell to the ground, Panther wrapped her arms around her ankles, turning the redhead's body over and arching her legs back, sitting down into a Boston crab.

"Too easy…you got power, sure, but no technique at all." Panther sounded a little bored as she locked in the painful-looking maneuver. "I'm sure if you nailed me, those punches would hurt, but once I dodge 'em you're wide open for counters."

"Be…quiet!" The Russian growled back as she strained against the move, again trying to find a way out of Panther's grasp. "I do not…need your…advice…!"

"If I could interrupt you two for a moment…" Lyra spoke up, having walked closer to the brawling girls and squatting in front of the Russian. "I should level with you. Panther is being very nice right now by only using these wrestling moves. She's a black belt in karate as well, and she could just be using strikes to knock you out cold. Which she might start doing if you keep struggling."

"R-rrgh…" The Russian glared back at Lyra. "Молчи…"

"Mmhmm. I don't know much any Russian, but it seems like you understand English well enough." Lyra continued. "Come on, I'm sure we can reach an understanding here, miss…well, first, maybe you could tell me your name?"

The Russian put her head down, trying again to adjust her body to escape Panther's hold, still unsuccessfully. After a moment, she glared back at Lyra and muttered, "…Laika."

"Laika. See? We're making progress already." Lyra gave Panther a glance. Her sister nodded, shifting her body weight to take a bit of the pressure off Laika's back. "Okay, Laika. We're not going to let you hurt Lemy, but if you talk to us, maybe we can help you. What is it you want?"

The Russian glared at Lyra again, pausing for a moment until she responded, "I am looking for a man. His name is Lincoln Loud. The Loud boy in there refused to tell me where he is."

"Uh huh…I see." Lyra nodded. "And, just out of curiosity, you are looking for Mr. Loud because…?"

"Because I will kill him." Laika announced her murderous intent straight away. "With my own bare hands."

"Ah." Lyra's own gaze narrowed a bit after Laika's declaration. "That might be a bit of a dealbreaker."

"Then we have nothing to discuss." Laika began struggling against Panther's grip again. "If you will not tell me where he is, then I will make you…!"

"You ain't making anyone do shit, Red." Panther interrupted Laika by sitting even deeper into the Boston crab, increasing the pressure again. "Maybe you haven't figured it out yet, but you're not in a position to be making demands. Or to threaten us to help you commit murder."

Laika growled back at Panther, but despite her struggles, she still couldn't escape the hold. There was a pause for a moment here, allowing Lyra to glance around. Apparently, the sight of two young girls putting on an impromptu wrestling match in a parking lot was drawing some eyes, as a few passersby had stopped and started gawking.

"Pan…we're drawing a bit of attention out here." Lyra looked to her sister. "We should head back in…can you keep her under control?"

"Sure…not a big fan of having her in the shop again, but I suppose it's better than being gawked at." Panther nodded, dropping Laika's legs and going for her arm again, trapping it behind her back as she pulled her up. "Okay, Red, back inside…and no funny stuff, you hear?"

Laika grunted, but once more found herself unable to do anything but struggle against Panther as she was marched back into Pages and Pillows, with Lyra following the two in. The kids inside the store gave Panther a wide berth as she marched Laika in, bringing her to a chair and forcing her to sit in it, muttering, "Now be good…oh, and you try to act up or break things in here, that's when I stop holding back. Capisce?"

"Rrgh…" Laika growled back at Panther, but the other girl's clenched hand on her shoulder helped make her point loud and clear, so the Russian merely nodded in response.

The other kids in the store were, for the most part, eyeing Laika carefully, aside from Gwen, who was too busy fangirling over Panther to be wary. "Oh my god, Pan, that was so cool. You gotta teach me that thing with the knees to the back, cause that was fucking awesome."

"A, you're too young, B, you're too small to pull it off, and C, I ain't teaching you shit, cause you'll end up using it in one of Leia's cookie shakedowns." Panther immediately shot Gwen down without looking her way, her eyes still on the Russian. "You wanna learn it, go watch some Sasha Banks vids and practice on a body pillow or something."

"Hey, come on, don't be like that," protested Gwen. "Come on, I'll pay for lessons."

Panther kept her eyes on Laika for another moment, before glancing over to Gwen and muttering, "…What's your offer?"

"Ahem…ladies, if you're done?" Lyra glared at Panther and Gwen, who both backed off, Gwen shrugging while Panther returned her attention to her redheaded captive. Satisfied, Lyra grabbed the chair closest to Laika and sat down in it as she asked, "So, we're going to be calm now, right?"

Laika silently shot Lyra a dirty look for a second, before Panther's grip on her shoulder tightened a bit to remind her of the situation she was in. "Да."

"Excellent. Then let's skip ahead to the important question, okay?" Lyra leaned forward. "Why exactly are you mad at Mr. Loud?"

"I do not have to…" Laika started, before Panther's grip tightened once more to encourage her. "Rrggh…he…he dishonored my family."

"Really." Lyra sighed as she rubbed her temples. "And he did this by…?"

"You do not…Grah." Laika flashed Panther an angry glare in response to the grip, before she continued, "You do not need to know. It won't change matters."

Lyra stared at Laika for a minute as she thought. Anger at dad, dishonor to family, unwilling to say why…welp, the obvious answer popped in right away, but just to be sure... "Laika. If I could guess, was the person Mr. Loud 'dishonored' your mother, by any chance?"

The surprised look on the Russian's face confirmed Lyra's question, as she grumbled, "How do you…"

"Hah…of course." Lyra's forehead was now fully in her hands. "Lord, give me strength…I can do all things through him who strengthens me…"

As Lyra quietly murmured prayers, the rest of the gathered Loud brood was slowly putting pieces together based on the information available to them. It was Lina who managed to put the pieces into place first, as she slapped her forehead and muttered, "Holy fucking shit…"

"Lina, I need strength from the Lord right now and that is NOT helping." Lyra pointed her finger at her sister.

"Are you for fucking real right now?!" Others in the group also started to make the same connection Lina and Lyra had, with Marla being the first to speak up. "Four of them? In a single goddamned DAY?!"

"Still not helping!" Lyra called out, but by this point there was a bit of a rancor rising in the shop as the kids all started figuring it out. The only exceptions seemed to be the trio of Reina, Bobby, and Vikki, who looked a bit confused…well, Vikki always looked a bit confused, but moreso than usual now…and Lemy, who was still out cold up against the counter.

"What is this…?" Laika growled as she glanced around the room. "What are you all…"

"Sorry, it's just…it's been a long day. Nerves are frayed." Lyra managed to compose herself long enough to sit back up in her chair, letting out a heavy sigh as she asked, "So…Lincoln Loud is your father, then?"

"HE IS NOT!" As soon as the word 'father' had left Lyra's lips, Laika slammed her fist on the table, completely ignoring Panther's grip tightening again. "You will NOT EVER call him that!"

"Mrrgh…" The sound of Laika's fist was enough to stir Lemy from his slumber, as he slowly cracked open his eyes. "C'mon, gimme another five minutes, still can't feel my legs that well…"

As he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Laika, sitting at the table. The redhead had a furious look on her face, but she didn't seem to be paying Lemy any mind, her gaze locked on his older sister instead. After being sure that she wasn't going to lunge at him, Lemy glanced around him, noticing Lyle and Lina standing right next to him, and quietly muttered, "Hey, guys, level with me…they're not negotiating over my life, are they?"

"No, you're not part of the conversation at the moment." Lyle replied to Lemy, having recovered fairly quickly from the newest revelation. "Right now, we're just all dealing with the face that she's…probably also our sister."

"Ahhh." Lemy nodded weakly. "Figured that out, did ya…?"

"Wait…Lem, did you know?" Lina knelt next to Lemy. "How did you find out about that?"

"Didn't really find out…just guessed." Lemy shrugged. "See, during that last run, I was thinking, 'god, this woman must be pissed at dad for something', and then I thought about why, then I realized, 'wait, I'm pissed at dad all the time'. So, I figured it made the most sense. Surprised you guys are all shocked, I mean, we just went through this with Lyle."

"…oh. Right. You probably don't know the other part." Lyle realized why Lemy seemed so accepting of the current situation. He pointed behind him, where the Santiagos and Vikki were standing. "See those three over there? The twins and the blondie? The one with the torso you could bounce a coin off of?"

"What are you goin' on about…?" Lemy gave Lyle a quizzical look as he glanced around the store, still too tired to do much more than turn his head a bit. "Oh…yeah, I see them. Can't see the blonde girl's torso, but I'll take your word on it."

"Oh, trust me Lem, it's no joke." Lina confirmed Lyle's assessment. "Girl can rock that chassis of hers."

"Ok. Great. Glad to hear it." Lemy replied disinterestedly, clearly not having any energy to react further. "The point being…?"

"They're also our surprise siblings." Lyle put it bluntly. "Numbers 2, 3, and 4 of the day."

Lemy didn't react for a bit, just staring at Lyle for a moment, before glancing over to said extra set of surprise siblings. After a beat, he leaned his head back against the counter and mumbled, "I'm gonna go back to sleep. Plan is that I stay out until the heat death of the universe, but hopefully I can snooze at least until I'm able to get legally shitfaced. Let me know when one of those occurs."

Lyle thought to reply, but from the soft rise and fall of his chest it seemed that Lemy was making good on at least the first part of his declaration. Instead, he returned his attention to the center of the table, where Lyra and Laika had remained silent, Laika shooting daggers at Lyra since her outburst while Lyra had a resigned look on her face.

"Look…this might shock you, but I do get it." Lyra finally broke the ice again. "The anger and resentment at that man being your father, I understand exactly where you're…"

"Silence!" Laika's growl cut Lyra off again. "I have told you, he is not…"

"Oh? Then, who is your father?" Now it was Lyra's turn to cut the redhead off. "What's his name? And, if Lincoln Loud ISN'T your father, then why can't you explain the animosity between you and him?"

"I…I do not have one." Laika's rage dissipated just a hair under Lyra's probing. "I have always lacked a father. He never existed."

"Oh, I believe that he was never in your life. But unless you're a VERY special case, he had to exist biologically." Lyra replied coolly. "And my guess is you've discovered his name, and that he's been here in Royal Woods this whole time, which is why you've come…"

"I said SILENCE!" Laika slammed her fists on the table again. "I will not…ergh!"

"Maybe I wasn't clear…" Panther was grabbing Laika's arm and had it twisted behind her back, as she had when pushing her out of the store. "But THIS is what I meant by acting up, you understand? So, knock it off!"

Laika growled as she wriggled a little bit, but between the hand behind her back and the grip on her shoulder, Panther had her under control. Before the others at the table could continue their show, however, Reina stomped her foot loudly enough to draw attention and yelled, "That's it, I've had enough! Somebody tell me what the heck is going on here!"

"Re-Reina!" Bobby tugged on his sister's sleeve, trying to calm her. "This isn't the place for…"

"Bobby, this is the THIRD place these people have dragged us to, and we STILL can't get any straight answers here! I'm done playing around!" Despite her twin's best efforts, it was clear that Reina was not going to be calmed. "Where is our dad? Who is this girl, and why are you saying our dad is hers, too? WHY did that girl with the white hair call herself my sister earlier!? And also…"

Lyra sighed, turning her head and leaning back as she looked right at Reina and said, "First, I'll bring you directly to him as soon as we're done here. Second, I keep saying he's this girl's father because it's clear that he is, making her your sister. And that white-haired girl called herself your sister because she IS your sister, because her father, like yours, is Lincoln Loud. And I would know all this, because my father is ALSO Lincoln Loud."

"That's…wait, what?" Reina looked a bit taken aback by Lyra's frankness. "What are you…"

"And not just me, either." Lyra wasn't done, however, as she started pointing at the rest of the kids assembled in Pages and Pillows. "My little brother Lemy is the same as me. Panther, here, her father is also Lincoln Loud. Same with Marla, and Lina, and Gloom, and…everyone. Everyone in this store…ah, except for those two…" Lyra corrected herself as her finger went to Gwen and Marsha, "…but aside from them, everyone here shares a common parent, and his name is Lincoln Loud. And we aren't the only ones…there's plenty more, here in this town."

Reina was, at last, struck speechless, just glancing around the room at the others gathered, their sometimes guilty, sometimes resigned faces giving her all the confirmation she needed. Her mouth moved, but sounds refused to come out, as she was unable to find anything to say. In fact, when the first new sound came from their group, it wasn't Reina, but rather her blonde sister. Vikki, still looking as calm as ever, simply whistled and said, "Damn, the ol' man was a player."

"I suppose that's one way of saying it." Lyra shrugged back at Vikki, before turning her gaze back to Laika, still being held down by Panther, whose mask of rage had been dented slightly by disbelief. "So, you see now why it's not hard for me to guess that your father is Lincoln Loud?"

"You…you know nothing…" Laika's voice was more shaken than before, but she was clearly still angry. "Nothing of who I am…of my family…how could you know what I…?"

"Ah, yes…one last thing." Lyra's eyes were locked on Laika's. "My father I've talked of…but I haven't mentioned my mother, have I? Her name is Luna Loud. And for the record, they do not share last names because of marriage. They have the same last names because they came from the same family, as brother and sister."

Lyra dragged out the last three words, to drive her point home. Whatever Laika was going to say had clearly disappeared from her mind after that last statement. The Santiago twins were similarly dumbstruck, and even Vikki's constant, mellow smile dimmed a bit in surprise.

"But go ahead." Lyra glared at Laika, boring a hole in the redhead. "Tell me how I couldn't possibly know how hard you've had it because of your parentage. I'm dying to know."

Laika finally cracked from the pressure, turning her eyes down to the table she was being pressed into to avoid Lyra's harsh gaze. The room was entirely silent for a moment…until, out of the blue, the sound of music broke the silence. Specifically, it was the opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, the unmistakable 'Dun dun dun duuuuun' cutting through the room, emanating from Lyra's pocket.

Lyra pulled out her phone, the source of the noise, and tapped it a few times. "It's already this late…well, this wasn't a quick detour, so I suppose it's to be expected." Rising up from the table, Lyra glanced around the room, put on the best smile she could (which wasn't terribly convincing, which was understandable given the circumstances) and said, "It's possible you all forgot, given the excitement and all, but there is a party today that we're all expected at, and it will be starting soon. So…shall we go?"


	10. Chapter 10

...

…A new window opened, joining the crowd of video feeds already clogging up the monitor Z-29 was fixed on. Z-29 kept her eyes on it for a moment as she followed the other feeds. But, after a moment, she decided to enlarge this new feed and enable sound. She was interested to see how they played into all this…

...

"Feeling any better, Lori?"

"I'm fine, Leni…it's just a headache," Lori Loud reassured her sister as she rubbed her temples. They were in her car, driving back to Royal Woods after work, for Lulu's birthday celebration. Though, Lori's throbbing head dampened any sense of celebration, but hey, she could power through it. "I took some ibuprofen, just need to sit back and let it kick in."

"I can't believe that vendor kept you on the call for an extra half hour," Their sister Lola called out her dissatisfaction from the front seat. "What an absolute waste of time! I would have just hung up on him, if I were in your shoes."

"Duly noted. And, trust me, I thought about it a few times when he kept deflecting my attempts to end the call." Lori sighed as she continued massaging her temples. "Anyway, thanks for agreeing to drive, Lola. You're a lifesaver."

"I still don't get why Lola had to drive. I could have driven us back." Leni glanced at her sisters with a bit of a pout.

"'Could' and 'should' are very different things, Leni." Lori replied dryly.

"Aw, come on, Lori!" Leni's pout intensified into a full-blown protest. "I've gotten much better at driving over the last few years!"

"Oh, I'm sure you have, Leni. In the same sense that one is a much larger number than zero." Lola's response matched Lori's sarcasm.

"Yeah! Wait…" The sarcasm flew over Leni's head for a minute, though she seemed to be trying to belatedly catch it.

Before she could, though, there was a ring from Lola's cell phone in the cup holder. "Aw dang…Leni, can you answer that and put it on speaker?"

"Oh, sure!" Leni grabbed the cell and quickly opened up the call. "Oh, it's Lana! Hi, Lana!"

"Uh, hey Leni…Lola's there, right?" Their sister's confusion was evident at the different voice.

"I'm here, Lana. I'm driving, though, so Leni put us on speaker," Lola responded as her eyes remained on the road. "What's up?"

"Oh, not much, nooot muuuch…" Lana sounded a bit…off, in the way that Lola, being her twin, could tell was the 'I'm trying to hide something right now' voice. "So, anyway, how, uh…how far out are you guys right now? Like, what's your ETA looking like?"

"Maybe another…" Lola glanced around for road signs. "…I dunno, forty minutes or so? Maybe more if we hit traffic."

"Forty…ok right," Lana replied, again sounding a bit odd. Her voice got quieter, like she had pulled the phone away for a second to call out, "Hey Linc, probably another forty!"

That last bit of oddness caught Lori's attention, who stopped rubbing her temples for a moment to lean forward and ask, "Lana, it's Lori. Is something wrong there?"

"Wrong? No no, nothing like that!" Lana quickly responded with a denial. "It's just, whew, so many kids here, ya know? A little hard to keep 'em under wraps, so we could use all the hands we can get! Anyway, I should…get back to helping them! So yeah, bye! See you in a bit!"

The call ended, and there was a moment of silence in the car…well, aside from Leni saying, "Bye Lana!", to the already disconnected line.

"Hah…Lola?" Lori called out as she started to rummage through her purse on the seat between her and Leni. "Can you get us there in a half hour?"

"Within the speed limit? Probably not," Lola replied, with a smirk. "Of course, if you're willing to overlook a few things, then…"

"Oh, by all means, speed away, Lola." Lori pulled out her bottle of ibuprofen, poured out a pill…no, two pills, and downed them quickly. "Let's just get there quick, ok?"

...

Glossing over a slight bit of vehicular insanity…whew, just WATCHING this made Z-29 a bit queasy…

...

"Aaand we're here!" Lola turned and smiled at her sisters as soon as the car had come to a complete stop. "So, how'd I do, girls?"

"Oh…great job, Lola!" Leni gave her a thumbs up, although she was swaying quite a bit. "Where is…'here' again?"

"We're home, Leni." Lori sighed and got out of the car. They had, indeed, arrived at the grand Loud residence, after only twenty-nine minutes of motivated-Lola-driving. Lori's attention went to the front porch, where a familiar face had perched itself.

Marla was sitting there, hands crossed with a typical sourpuss expression on her face. She glanced at her aunts walking in, waving weakly as she welcomed them, "Hey, Aunt Lori, Aunt Lola, Aunt Leni…er, you okay, Aunt Leni?"

"Oh, sure, Mar…la?" Leni continued to sway as she slowly got out of the car. "Just waiting for things to stop spinning a bit."

"Uh huh…" Marla raised her eyebrow, before shrugging and going, "Welp, hi and bye, I guess…I'm waiting for my mom to pick me up. I've said hi to everyone, so I'm done."

"Done already?" Lori raised her eyebrow. "Have you been here for a while?"

"Well…eh, you'll see." Marla sighed as she put her head down. "Let's just say I'm well and truly familied-out, and probably will be for a while."

That didn't really answer any questions Lori had asked or wanted to ask, but Marla's body language was pretty clear, she was not in an answering mood this evening. With a shrug, Lori just replied, "Alright then, I can understand where you're coming from. It was good to see you, Marla." With that, she walked past her niece up the step and into the house, her sisters following behind, though Leni stopped for a moment to give Marla a big glomp of a hug.

It didn't take long for them to realize something of what Marla was talking about. As she scanned the house, Lola muttered, "Ah…so this is what Lana meant…"

Clumps of kids were all over the first-floor living room. In one corner, drawing their attention thanks to the noise they were making, was the tall redheaded girl, who was growling loudly as she struggled to escape the grapple she was in. "Let…go! Проклятье!"

"Uh…hang on." The one grappling her, Lacy, gave a concerned look to the bespectacled girl sitting next to her. "Pan, she keeps asking me to let go. Are you sure I need to hang on to her?"

"Yeah, you can ignore her, Lace. Sure, she's being all grouchy about it, but I'm telling you, what this girl needs more than anything is a nice, strong hug. So, you keep hugging away, ok?" Panther Pain grinned as she rubbed her arms. "At least until I can rest my arms a bit…hanging onto this girl ain't that easy…"

"Huh…well, ok!" Panther's last mumblings sailed over Lacy's head as she 'hugged' Laika even tighter. "Here you go Miss Laika! I hope this makes you feel better!"

"It does no…rrgh!" Laika's complaints were quashed by the tightening squeeze. "Gah…Glasses woman, you will pay for…argh! Where is the little one getting this…power from…?!"

Not too far from the struggling Russian, four girls were chatting away on the couch. Lupa was leaned back, with a smirk on her face, as she asked, "So wait, what the hell were you planning on doing with like a hundred bottles of soda?"

"Well, for one, didn't know they were full. I thought they were empties." Terry replied with a shrug. "And I was GONNA stack them up and kickflip over them after a grind down the rail! It was gonna be the big finish for my new vid!"

"I mean, even if we ignore the whole 'maybe you should have checked if they were empties' part, I dunno if that's that big a trick, Terr." Lina was sitting on the arm of the couch as she replied skeptically. "I mean, there's tons of look-at-me-jump-over-this-crap videos out there. I see some kid try something like that at the skate park basically every other week."

"Yeah, maybe, but not with a sweet rail like the one we got between the football field and the school building," Terry replied. "Trust me, a grind down this big ass rail, hitting every corner and then finishing up with a trick over a pile of bottles? It's gonna be the tightest shit."

"It sure does sound like the tightest shit, homie." Leaning on the other arm of the couch was Vikki, her face looking mellow as ever, as she listened to Terry's description. "Makes me wish I could skate for like five seconds before fallin' flat on my white ass. You gotta let me be there to watch when you try that shit, homegirl."

"Hell yeah, I'm down." Terry smiled as she offered Vikki her fist, getting a solid bump back. "See, girls? She gets me. You want in when I do it?"

"Watch you try something that can fail spectacularly in like fourteen different ways? I'm always up for something like that." Lupa grinned at Terry. "Just let me know when I need to ditch class and I'll find my way there."

"Hard pass from me. Like I said, I see enough that I'm bored of it." Lina waved her hand. "Sides, didn't you get in deep shit for what happened to Sonnette today?"

"…ah. Riiiight…" Terry had clearly forgotten said deep shit. "So…maybe in a couple weeks then? And, uh…any chance one of you girls could do camerawork? I feel Sonnette's not gonna be that interested in helping me next time."

Speaking of Sonnette, she was in the dining room, opposite the living room where those groups had gathered. Sitting next to her was Liby, who seemed to be reading a book with her. "Seemed to be", mind you, because every now and then they'd lift their eyes from the book they were allegedly reading to look over to the other side of the table.

On that side sat Leia and the pair of twins. Reina seemed quite shaken, while Bobby kept looking at her, worried, while trying to keep up with Leia, who was giving them a sales pitch of sorts. "…and we're all over the city, having expanded our operation quite a bit over the last year or so since…well, not to brag, but since I took over the operation from previous management. And as you've no doubt seen, we're efficient, quick to respond, and able to roll with any situation that comes up that we must deal with. It's really a great operation we've got, don't you think?"

"Oh, uh…" Bobby glanced at Reina again, who still didn't seem like she was in the mood for talking, before he answered, "Yeah, it, uh, seems great…um, just to be sure. What you guys do is sell cookies, right?"

"That's correct. Cookie sales are our primary source of income." Leia nodded back to Bobby. "Now, granted, we do have a few secondary income streams, but they're…well, a bit more private than our cookie operation, so I try not to bring them up too much. Proprietary information, you understand."

"Pfft." Reina still looked upset, but finally joined the conversation, instead of being talked to. "And you're bringing this up why…?"

"Why, because I'd love to bring you aboard our enterprise, Miss Santiago!" Leia put on the top-tier smile for the hard sell. "Now, I know we've just met, but I can tell right away you've got just what we're looking for. Your style, the way you carry yourself, that never-back-down attitude…I'm sure you'd fit right in."

"Oh really? Yeah, no thanks." Reina turned away from Leia as she propped her head up with her arm. "Not gonna join anything that's all girls, anyway. Bobby can't come along if I do."

"Ah, I see…" Leia shot Bobby a glance, assessing him for a bit. "Well, you are right, this is a ladies-only outfit, but I'm sure I could find some way for Bobby to join in, if only unofficially…rules like these aren't hard for me to get around, you see."

Back on the other end of the table, Sonnette's eyes had, again, strayed from the book she was 'reading' with Liby to Leia and the twins, as she muttered, "このやくざ子…"

"本当に.本当," Liby replied in Japanese as she nodded. "We're lucky the Mom Squad told Numbers Two and Three to head home, otherwise she'd really but putting the press on them…"

Back on the step, Lori sighed and said, "Lola. Could you please distract your daughter? We should probably cut in before she literally recruits those two against their will."

"Yeah, okay." Lola started walking to the dining room to join her daughter. "Hello dear! And what have we been up to today?"

"Ah…Mommy!" Whatever sales pitch Leia had been planning faded from her head immediately as she quickly got up and hugged her mother tightly. "Welcome home! Come on, sit with me, I want to introduce my new friends to you!"

Lori grinned at how easily distracted Leia was when Lola was around. That was one problem solved, in any case. "Alright now, Leni…Leni?"

"Hmmm…hang on…" Leni was staring at the tall redhead still struggling against Lacy's bearhug. "I'm sure I've seen this girl before…"

"You have, Leni." Lori sighed as she shook her head. "That's your friend Becky's girl, isn't it?"

There was a moment's silence as the little hamster in Leni's head spun its wheel, until Leni finally said, "O-M-Gosh, you're right! Aw, little Laika's gotten so big!"

"Right, Laika…can't believe she named her that…" Lori muttered before turning to Leni and asking, "Anyway, Leni, could you maybe get in touch with Becky and…"

"Liena!" Before Lori could finish her request, Leni managed to get distracted again, this time by the appearance of her daughter out of the kitchen, carrying a large bowl of pasta. She quickly made her way to Liena and called out, "Hi, honey! I'm home!"

"Mama!" Liena quickly put the pasta down on the table just in time before her mother came in with a big hug. "You're just in time! Most of the food is almost done, so we'll be having dinner soon."

"Oh, that sounds great! Here, I'll come help you bring the food to the table!" With that, Leni and Liena quickly made their way back into the kitchen.

The suddenly alone Lori sighed, though the house was loud enough that no one but her heard it this time. "Well, Leni was about as much help as ever…where is everyone else…"

"Eight…Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen…"

Lori looked over to the sound of someone counting. Lisa had walked out of the kitchen to the dining room with a clipboard, making a quick note on the page as she tallied off numbers. Lori walked towards her sister and said, "Finally, Lisa, where is…"

"Abububut! No interrupting, please!" Lisa shushed her oldest sister before quickly resuming her count, walking over and glancing around the living room. "Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…eighteen, nineteen, twenty…ah, and Marla on the porch makes twenty-one. That's all of them, then."

"…all of them?" Lori arched her eyebrow. "We have…"

"Yes, all twenty-one of Lincoln's biological children are here in the house…well, at least until Marla gets picked up." Lisa glanced at her notepad, before a light chuckle escaped her lips. "I always find it funny how our Ace Savvy-obsessed brother managed to get his progeny to equal the top score in blackjack."

"Mhmm…well, now I get why Lana was anxious for us to get home…" Lori rubbed her temples. "Lisa, what's going on?"

"It would appear that the young Santiago twins arrived in town via bus along with Vikki. As for Laika, she arrived by plane a few days ago, but was keeping a low profile for some reason." Lisa glanced at the notes she had on her clipboard. "They all had run-ins with their siblings around town, and…"

"Not what I mean." The ibuprofen was clearly not going to be enough to combat Lori's headache today. "WHY are they all here?"

"I don't know that. I can't read their minds, after all." Lisa shrugged. "Well, I mean, theoretically I could, but you went and insisted I strip the telepathic monitoring from my observation drones, but if you…"

"No! No. No mind-reading, Lisa," Lori admonished her sister. "Where…where's everyone else?"

"In the backyard. Lynn is manning the grill, while the rest of us are discussing the current situation, while tagging in and out and making sure the situation in here doesn't get…combustible." Lisa thought for a moment, before adding, "Aside from Lincoln. He's watching Lulu and Lizy in the guest room. And Gloom, too, I suppose, though she should theoretically take less monitoring than the young girls."

"Hah…okay. Tell the others I'll be with them in a minute. I'm just going to take care of a couple things quick." With a shake of her head, Lori walked away from Lisa, heading towards the guest room. It was just off to the side of the living room, so it was the fastest walk. The door was shut, so Lori knocked, before announcing, "I'm coming in, Lincoln."

She opened the door and stepped into the guest room. It was one of the largest bedrooms in the house and was most often used by her parents whenever they flew up from Florida. But since it went unused more often than not, it also served as a playroom for the younger kids whenever they needed a more private space. As Lisa had mentioned, the children currently using the room were Gloom, Lizy, and Lulu, all being watched by their father, from the bed. Lizy was drawing with crayons, which Lulu was attempting to do as well, with Gloom helping her here and there.

Gloom was the first one to react to Lori's arrival, waving to her and saying, "Hi, Aunt Lori! It's good to see you!"

"Good to see you too, Gloom. And you too, Lizy." Lori ruffled the girls' hair. "And of course, we can't forget the birthday girl! Are you having a good birthday, Lulu?"

"Brrrah!" Baby mumbles were the only response as Lulu glanced up at her for a moment before returning to her art.

"I'll take that as a yes." Lori chuckled as she looked at the older girls. "Has she been having fun?"

"Yeah! We've had lots of fun!" Lizy beamed at Lori mid-drawing. "She wanted to help me draw, so we've been coloring for the last few minutes and she's super good at it!"

"Sounds like fun. Well, don't let me interrupt you for too long, girls." Lori stood up and backed away, turning to her brother. "How about you, Lincoln? Have you been having fun today?"

"Heh…well…" Lincoln let out a pained laugh, looking rather tired. "I don't know if I'd really call it 'fun', exactly…"

"I can only imagine." Lori crossed her arms. "So? Could you explain what exactly is going on, Lincoln?"

"I really wish I could, Lori." Lincoln sighed and laid back on the bed. "I was wondering why most of the kids were running late, then Lupa came home with Liby's group from the high school, and gave me some cryptic comment, like…uh, actually, not something to repeat around impressionable ears. But anyway, a while later the rest all came back in one big group, and they brought…guests."

"Mmhmm. I know the ones you're talking about." Lori sat on the bed next to her brother. "Do we know why they're here?"

"We called Nikki…her daughter left her a note that she was taking the twins 'on a field trip', to Royal Woods, apparently. She's coming to pick them up," Lincoln explained. "As for Laika, well…"

"GRRAAH! Отпусти меня!" A sudden shout in Russian came bursting in through the open door. "I must find Lincoln Loud and end his life! Do not get in…gah! Ублюдки!"

Laika continued to shout, but Lori went to the door and closed it, muffling the sound. With a shake of her head, she looked back to Lincoln and said, "I think I see the problem there. Have you reached out to Becky?"

"I would, but we don't have her number. Or any other contact info, really." Lincoln sat back up. "I mean, officially. Lisa's assured me she could get in touch with her if we needed to, but her methods are…well, let's just say we figured it'd be easier for everyone if Leni could call Becky for us."

"Understood. Leni's catching up with Liena first, but we can check with her after she's had her mommy-daughter time." Lori nodded back to Lincoln. "In any case, I have a couple more things to check up on. Are you going to help Lisa keep an eye on the rest of the kids, or…?"

"Yeah, I…" Lincoln started a statement, but hesitated. After a moment, he finished, "I'll…I'll be out there in a minute."

Lori glanced back at her brother, her hand on the doorknob. With a slight smirk she joked, "I don't think you have to worry about Laika. Lacy and Panther literally had her held down well enough. Besides, you've heard worse from your kids before, right?"

"Oh, no, it's not that." Lincoln scratched the back of his head, a sheepish look on his face. "It's…I'm not worried about Laika, it's just…"

"The twins, huh…?" Lori finished the sentence, to which Lincoln nodded after a moment. Letting go of the doorknob, Lori walked back to the bed and sat down next to her brother, asking, "Wanna talk about it?"

Lincoln was quiet for a moment, the conflict in his head obvious by his look. "It's just…What do I even say to them?"

"You'd think that'd literally be the thing you have the most practice in, right?" Lincoln shot his sister a dirty look after her snide comment, which caused her to continue, "Okay, that was mean. But honestly, Lincoln, you knew this day would probably come, right?"

Lincoln was hesitant to respond, so Lori continued, "I know, they're a special case. But the fact of the matter is it doesn't change the big picture. You know what you have to say, right?"

"I know, just…" Lincoln was still clearly conflicted, but, slowly, resignation mixed its way into the look on his face. "I know."

A soft smile curled on Lori's face as she leaned in towards him and kissed him on his cheek. "It's ok. I believe in you. And if you need help, I'll be there for you. We all will."

"Thanks, Lori." Lincoln also smiled back at Lori, scratching his neck. "I'll be out in a few."

"Ok. I'll see you out there." Lori got up and headed out the door, closing it quickly to make sure that Laika didn't catch a glimpse of Lincoln. Fortunately, it seemed like she was still flailing against Lacy's iron bear hug, so no worries there.

With a nod once she had confirmed that, she walked across the living room, to the basement stairs. She was going to go down, but the boys at the landing next to the stairs caught her eye. She looked down and asked, "Lyle? What's wrong with Lemy?"

"Ah…hello, Aunt Lori." Lyle nodded respectfully to Lori. Lemy looked to be asleep, his head laying on Lyle's lap. Lyle glanced down at his brother before mentioning, "…it's been a bit of a day for poor Lemy here."

"I see." Lori crossed her arms. "How about you? I've been getting the idea that a lot of us have been having a 'bit of a day'."

"Actually, I've come out fairly okay in that regard. A bit of bullshit here and there, but hey, what are you gonna do?" Lyle shrugged. "Also, I've had this weird feeling I'm being watched every now and then, but given there's like a million people in this house, I'm guessing that one of them keeps glancing at me here and there and that's it."

"Sounds…right…" The second part of Lyle's statement struck Lori as a bit odd, and she glanced down the basement stairs. She…had an idea of what he meant. "Say Lyle, I know you and Lemy are probably comfortable, but being in front of the stairs could literally block traffic. Would you mind moving somewhere else?"

"No, that's fine…could use the move, my feet are falling asleep…" Lyle nodded as he shook Lemy gently. "Sorry, bro, but we need to relocate. Let's go outside, you could use the fresh air."

"Guuuh…Sure, sounz good…" Lemy mumbled, half-awake as he was. Lyle slipped under Lemy's arm as he helped his brother out the door to the back yard.

Lori watched them go, until she was sure they were out of earshot. Once they were, she looked down the stairs and called out, "Could you come up now, honey?"

She was met with silence for a moment. Eventually, though, a girl entered her field of vision at the bottom of the stairs and started to ascend, her eyes looking down so as not to meet Lori's. She stopped about one step from the top, glancing up only briefly as she finally said, "…hi Mom."

"Hi, Loan. How…" Lori also hesitated…these interactions were always hard for both of them. She took a deep breath as she asked, "How have you been doing?"

"…m okay." Loan mumbled back, still trying not to look up at her mother.

"That's…good." Lori continued. "I know it's hard with so many people here, but…it hasn't been a problem, right?"

"N-no." Loan rubbed her arm awkwardly as she answered, "I've been fine."

"Right…good," Lori replied. There was a pause as she searched for the right words before she said, "Did you have something to talk to Lemy about?"

"Huh? N-no, I just thought he and Lyle were c…I mean, that's not…" Loan gripped her arm a bit tighter as she stammered out a response. "I…I didn't have anything to say, so…um…"

"R-right." Lori accepted her daughter's half-answer. "Um, have you talked to…anyone at the party?"

Loan didn't respond right away, still looking away from her mother before she quietly said, "…no."

"Okay…I understand, but…" Lori took another deep breath. "Can you give it a try? I know it's hard but…just for a moment? At least saying happy birthday to Lulu would be fine, and…it'd make your father and I happy."

Loan didn't say anything, still gripping her arm tight, but, after a moment gave a weak nod. Lori nodded back, searching for something to say until she finally walked up and gave Loan a hug. "Thanks, honey. I love you."

"Mmm…" It took another moment, but Loan slowly lifted her arms and hugged her mother back. "…you too, Mom."

The hug lasted a bit longer, until Lori pulled away. "Okay…Your father and Lulu are in the guest room. If you need me, let me know, okay?"

Loan gave another wordless nod as she shuffled off to the guest room, not looking up at the other guests as she crossed the living room, until she closed the door behind her. Lori watched her go the whole way, letting out a relieved breath as the door closed.

Once she had regained her composure, she walked across the living room again and up the stairs to the second floor. Now that Loan was…okay…she needed a clearer picture of what had happened in Royal Woods today. And the best person for that was…

"Lyra, are you here?" Lori knocked on her niece's door before slowly opening it. "Can we talk about…"

Lori's words faltered as she opened the door. Lyra was indeed in her room. She was standing in front of her desk, a glass of soda in front of her. In her hand was a bottle of certainly-not-soda. It actually looked more like a bottle of rum, which made Lori reassess the contents of the glass.

Lyra glanced back at her aunt stoically, before shrugging as she put the bottle on the desk and took a swig of her questionable drink, saying, as she finished, "Look, I'm not even going to bother explaining it after today. I've EARNED this one."


End file.
